


City of Stars

by inebyuun



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Arranged Marriage, Cat/Human Hybrids, Fairies, Hybrids, M/M, Mermaids, Mutual Pining, Pining, Porn with Feelings, Prince Byun Baekhyun, Prince Park Chanyeol, Slice of Life, Slow Burn, Smut, This fic is a roller coaster, Waiter Byun Baekhyun, mentions of depression, side Kaisoo - Freeform, side xiuchen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:48:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 57,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27154051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inebyuun/pseuds/inebyuun
Summary: After years locked between the four walls of his room in the palace, Baekhyun took the opportunity destiny gave him to run away. It's now or never, he can finally be free. Too bad this chance came the day before his wedding, making him leave Prince Chanyeol standing alone at the altar.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 9
Kudos: 95
Collections: EXO MONSTERFEST 2020





	1. Atlantic

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Oh my god I can't even believe I managed to finish this on time, but I did! Thank you so much to everyone who rooted for me while I was writing, and to everyone who constantly heard me complaining about finishing this fanfic; I couldn't have make it whitout all of you. I hope everyone enjoys this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Baekhyun always dreamed of being free.

He wanted to know what was beyond that well of darkness that his family called “home”, he wanted to know what was beyond the freezing temperatures of the north, he wanted to know what was beyond the ice sheet that permanently surrounded him. He wanted so many things, but none of them were possible. Always trapped, like a fish on a little glass of water.

His destiny had been written since forever, as his parents told him. They couldn't have any more children, so he was the only and last option in the successor line of the throne. He must continue the legacy of his family, because if the magic ended, his people would be plunged into darkness again; the Byun clan, the only magic mermaids in the Antarctic ocean, the ones that kept its inhabitants still alive.

He must marry someone powerful, someone strong enough to provide heirs with magic and continue the family's legacy.

And this is where Prince Chanyeol, the third successor to the Park clan throne, enters. Hailing from the Pacific Ring of Fire, the prince was the best option the Byun clan had to ensure its own survival.

At first, Baekhyun didn't understand it. Everyone expected so much from him, they expected him to be the model prince, to continue the legacy of his parents, to keep the kingdom as it was. They expected him to marry, they expected heirs. And Baekhyun wasn't sure if he was the right person.

His parents called him the day of his fifteenth birthday to give him the news, "we have found a suitor for you, his name is Park Chanyeol" he always heard his name, he was involved in all the conversations and yet, nowadays, Baekhyun hasn’t even seen his face once. He was beginning to doubt that it was real.

Because Park Chanyeol was perfect.

"Everything is destined to happen," his mother reminded him for as long as he could remember, "Prince Chanyeol will help us, so you must treat him well."

The prince who would save them all, strong as an erupting volcano, polite and well-mannered as the prince he is supposed to be, handsome, an absolute gentleman; there were so many rumors and each one was more unreal than the one before. Baekhyun heard them the time, at court, in the village, even in the ocean currents, but he could hardly believe any.

Sometimes Baekhyuns thought about him, and about the life that they would have together.

During the spring and summer, when the ice was thinner, Baekhyun floated facing the sky; the polar star, the aurora borealis above him, reflecting a light show on the thin frozen glass that separated the sea from the real world. In those moments, when all he could hear were the murmurs of the currents around him, he allowed himself to disconnect from everything and think about an ideal life; far away, only him and the vast sky, where he didn’t have to feel constantly surrounded by marine pressure.

But they were just dreams.

━━✧♛✧━━

"Prince Baekhyun, wake up!"

"Shit…" he muttered as he opened his eyes to see directly the angry face of his consort and best friend, Kyungsoo.

"You promised me that you were going to wake up early today, prince" the boy muttered as he began to walk around the room, turning on all the lights and trying to clean up the mess that was Baekhyun's room, just for the sake of doing something.

"I told you I would try" he sighed as he stretched his tail and arms, while rubbing his lower belly and yawning; "so, what's for breakfast today?"

"What’s for breakfast?" Kyungsoo laughed, stopping all sorts of movements to look the prince in the eyes "oh dear prince, sorry to tell you, but it's past noon"

"Holy shit!"

"Vocabulary, Baekhyun!"

"Don't correct me, Kyungsoo!" Baekhyun swam around his room, panicking, as he thought about what to do. This was until his consort grabbed him by arm and pointed directly at the outfit that he has been prepared for days inside his wardrobe.

"Get dressed," Kyungsoo warned, in a low and almost threatening tone; anyone would be scared, but Baekhyun was more than used to it "your parents are waiting for you downstairs, I'll wait for you there in less than 5 minutes, prince Park will be here any moment".

Prince Park Chanyeol.

Baekhyun sighed once Kyungsoo left the room. Today was the day he would meet the prince, the day he would meet his future husband. He knew this moment would come for years but even now when it is a reality that falls on his shoulders, he could hardly believe it. His parents had notified him a few weeks ago about Chanyeol's arrival in the kingdom, warning him that he must be there to receive his fiancé.

"My fiancé…"

He felt a chill run down his spine as he looked in the mirror and fixed the clothes Kyungsoo had left for him.

Usually Baekhyun wouldn't even bother to wear anything at all, but today was a special day, and that means getting a little fancy. A top woven with fine thread of black seaweed and adorned with pearls and small shells that matched the color of his hair and tail: ivory white. Finally, some jewelry: pendants, bracelets, earrings, rings, and the tiara that he only wore in official events that had something to do with the kingdom.

He smiled to himself looking in the mirror, if Kyungsoo was here, he would tell him that he finally looks like someone of his social status. It was a shame that the jewels only felt like dead weight against his skin.

"It's time" he blew some bubbles as he sighed, trying to get psyched up for what would be one of the most important moments of his life. He looked at himself in the mirror one last time, an image of his old self etched into his mind; because once he met the prince there was no going back.

And with his heart beating faster than ever, Baekhyun steeled himself and made his way through the long and dark corridors of the palace.

Apparently, he wasn't fast enough, because when he got to the main hall, it seemed like Prince Chanyeol had already arrived. He stood there, observing the whole situation from the doorframe, not knowing how to intervene or enter without his parents noticing that he was late.

"Shit..." he muttered to himself. From that point Baekhyun couldn't even see the prince's face, he just saw his back and his hair; fiery red waves that floated around his broad shoulders. Even without seeing his face, Baekhyun could tell that Prince Chanyeol was handsome. And when the prince turned around, the oxygen left Baekhyun’s lungs completely.

Big, vivid, dark eyes that contrasted directly with the golden skin, and since he wasn't wearing a top to cover it, you could see his chest and abdomen adorned with healed scars. Baekhyun was not some kind of innocent nun. He himself was attracted to other people and knew when someone was attractive and when not. Prince Chanyeol, god, was totally his type.

"Who is there?" Chanyeol asked after turning around, watching as the head peeking out the door quickly hid behind the wall.

"Who?" His father asked, and suddenly everyone in the room was staring at the door where Baekhyun was hiding. His parents, the prince, Kyungsoo, the palace servants, even some fish swimming around had turned their eyes towards Baekhyun.

"Uh..." he coughed a few times as he slowly let himself be seen behind the door frame "good morning, father, mother, sorry for being late for today's meeting-"

"We were wondering when you would arrive!" the king scolded him, raising his head to give him a stern look “Prince Chanyeol, this is our son, Prince Baekhyun; your fiancé"

"H-Hello" Baekhyun slowly dived until he stood right next to the prince, who soon offered his hand as a greeting.

"Prince Baekhyun, hello" Chanyeol smiled at him, holding his hand and shaking it just before bowing his head a little.

"Greetings, Prince Chanyeol" Baekhyun said, returning the greeting and the bow "sorry for making you wait, I know that today is an important day and how your future husband should have received you, but-"

"It’s okay, take it easy" Chanyeol's smile was bright, it almost made Baekhyun's heart shrink "I just arrived right now, and Sir Do said you were getting ready in your room, so I understand the delay"

Baekhyun was beginning to understand the good rumors surrounding the prince.

"Great!" his father applauded several times “it has been a long journey, I am sure you are tired; Baekhyun can show you the way to your suit and Kyungsoo will make sure that your luggage gets there. At 6 o'clock it is dinner, and we would like to have you both in the dining room to discuss the wedding plans"

"Father, we can talk about that another day-"

"I'll be there!" Chanyeol responded with an energetic smile, bowing in front of the kings "so if you'll excuse us, we will see you at dinner"

"Go ahead, princes" the king assured them with a smile "you are excused, you can go"

━━✧♛✧━━

The walk to the guest suite at the castle was slow, uncomfortable. Chanyeol had offered his arm politely and Baekhyun had latched onto it, because that’s what he has been told since he was a kid; he had to be polite. They were quiet, with the heavy atmosphere on their shoulders and the sound of the ocean currents filling the gap between them.

“Here it is” Baekhyun announced in front of the door that separated them from the room where Chanyeol would stay. They can’t share a room, at least until marriage, so both princes would sleep in separate bedrooms until the wedding “do you have any questions about the castle, Prince Chanyeol?"

"Just Chanyeol"

"Huh?"

"Formalities are not necessary between us," he assured Baekhyun, releasing his arm to rest his hand on the doorknob "we'll be married soon, anyways; formalities won't do any good if we're supposed to trust each other"

"You're right..." now with his free arm, Baekhyun didn't even know what to do with himself; he was nervous, cautious, he felt that the prince was reading every single one of his moves. He decided to put his hands behind his back and quickly nod his head. "So, Chanyeol… I'll let you settle in your room, if you have any problems there are servants and-"

"Wait, before you go, I have another request"

"Yes?"

"We have to talk before dinner" Baekhyun gulped, knowing where the conversation was headed "I think it's impossible to talk about our marriage if I haven't talked to you properly before"

"I agree" Baekhyun nodded, looking into Chanyeol's eyes; black as coal, but they looked at Baekhyun with fire, with determination “go down the main stairs, follow the corridor to the left, at the bottom there is a bigger door; it will lead you to the garden of the palace. But my father is right, you need to freshen up from your trip, you can sort your things and change, I'll wait for you in the garden”.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes" Chanyeol smiled and quickly opened the door of the room. Baekhyun just laughed at his determination.

"Good" he nodded, moving back a little "see you there"

Chanyeol entered the room and looked around; it was honestly a nice place, and the whole castle seemed luxurious. When his parents and sister told him that he would finally move to the Antarctic Ocean, the prince did not know exactly what to expect from the place; there were stories around it, the cold, the ice and the darkness were usually the protagonists around them. The kingdom would be described as a remote and slightly terrifying place.

While it was true that the surrounding darkness was quite shocking, the Byun family had always been in charge of lighting up the place. The entire area of the kingdom was a totally magical place and even Chanyeol, who had always lived surrounded by the magical energy of his family, was impressed with the amount of effort that the Byuns had put into the village area.

Everywhere you can see small, but powerful, sources of channeled energy, little lights floating around the houses and the castle, illuminating the dark depths of the ocean. There were shells of bright and vivid colors that painted the ground with colors and fishes that he had never seen swimming around the corals, dancing to the rhythm of the ocean currents.

It was totally different from where Chanyeol came from, the Pacific Fire Belt. Scalded waters, volcanic rocks, dry and hardened magma, tidal waves, sharks. Nature itself made sure that only mermaids and the strongest animals lived in that area: territorial fights, earthquakes and eruptions were something that Chanyeol had learned to live with on a daily basis. The Park clan, his family, are lucky with the magic that runs through their veins because otherwise, there was little chance of surviving so many generations.

The prince thought that changing habitat, living in a quieter place like the seabed in the Antarctic would be a good idea. Of course, he had doubts before setting out on his journey, but now that he's here, Chanyeol is clear that this was the path that destiny had written for him.

As he thought about how beautiful the village was, his mind wandered to Baekhyun, ah, the prince. His pure beauty surprised him in a pleasant way when his figure entering the main hall, because although Chanyeol had been assured that the prince was handsome, he did not imagine that he was so handsome. His straight white hair contrasted against the darkness of the seabed, just like his skin, clear and cool to the touch that glowed under the artificial lights.

Chanyeol couldn't wait to get to know Baekhyun better, because at this point, there was no going back; they were going to get married, spend their life together, and Chanyeol hoped he could fall in love as fast as possible. He didn’t want conflict, he had always preferred a more peaceful life, and if all went well, he hoped to be happy with the prince who now awaited him in the garden.

Soon Kyungsoo and some servants from the castle brought his luggage to the room, Chanyeol didn’t want to bring many things, but clothes and personal objects were indeed necessary; even if the prince was starting a new life.

"This is it, prince" Kyungsoo bowed politely to Chanyeol "Do you need anything else? I will do my best to make your stay here comfortable"

"No, I'm fine, I was actually going out to the garden for a bit right now"

"To the garden? Prince Baekhyun likes the garden very much, you may find him there"

“Yes…” Chanyeol smiled, putting some of his luggage in the closet “your name is Kyungsoo, right? The kings said so"

"Yes, prince, my name is Do Kyungsoo, and I am Baekhyun's servant"

"How long have you been working here?"

“Oh, since I was little” Kyungsoo straightened, hands behind his back “my parents work like servants to kings, and since I was little I have been raised in the castle; the Do family owes a lot to the Byuns, so we serve them honestly. If the time comes, my children will probably work for yours"

"I see, then you must know prince Baekhyun very well"

"I do, sir" he nodded a couple of times, slowly "I grew up with him"

"And do you have any advice? Literally anything would be useful, I just need to get close as quickly as possible"

“He is a sensitive person, prince; please don't hurt him and I am sure that little by little he will open up to you"

"I will do my best, thank you" Chanyeol thanked him sincerely, approaching the door. "Then I'll go right now, you are excused as well, Kyungsoo"

"Of course" he made a small bow as he watched the prince walk out the door "do you need help getting to the garden?"

"Don't worry, I'll handle myself!"

And Chanyeol headed out into the garden, down the main stairs, moved into the hallway on the left, and out the largest door at the back. After opening it, the garden that was there was definitely not what was expected: a heap of sand consumed in the dark, illuminated only by small spheres of energy that floated, swaying slightly, almost as if it was a dance of lights. There was hardly any vegetation, but colorful anemones, corals, and algae abounded, creating an even thicker atmosphere in the garden.

Chanyeol thought it was a beautiful place, he was totally mesmerized, as if the world was in slow motion; he thought maybe it was his destiny to be in this place after all.

He began to walk slowly into the garden, looking around for the other prince. And certainly, looking for someone in the near-dark was not the most pleasant task, but Baekhyun's pristine white color made it all quite easier. He saw him sitting on a rock, leaning against a large coral as he played with some small fish that were swimming around him. Several lights were floating around the prince, making it seem like he was shining on his own.

"Prince Chanyeol" Baekhyun called him, looking in his direction "I see you could find the garden, I'm glad"

"Yes, it wasn’t that difficult" Chanyeol nodded, not knowing what else to say. And soon after, an awkward silence formed between them, since neither of them knew what to say. Baekhyun had stopped playing with the fish and just sat correctly on the rock, while Chanyeol just found himself floating, not knowing exactly what to do. He had it all planned out, he had thought about this conversation, he knew what to do - but his nerves almost prevented him from speaking, he did not know the prince at all, and he definitely did not want to make a bad impression on him.

"I-" Chanyeol said just before his voice broke. Well great. He cleared his throat, coughing nervously before continuing, "I just wanted to talk to you."

Baekhyun looked him in the eye and Chanyeol definitely thought that it would all end there, after making an horrible first impression; he didn't expect to hear Baekhyun laugh seconds later.

"Sit here big boy, let's talk." The prince tapped the rock he was sitting on, inviting Chanyeol to sit next to him, "I'm just as nervous as you are, don't worry."

Chanyeol breathed more relieved and quickly made his way next to Baekhyun, sitting close to him.

“I wanted to talk to you before discussing our marriage” Chanyeol mentioned “in a little while, over dinner, we'll probably just talk about it; but I think it's stupid to plan a wedding if I hardly know your name "

"I think the same" Baekhyun nodded, glancing at the other prince sideways, examining his face and expressions; he wanted to see if Chanyeol was serious, since he didn't seem like a bad person "I have been always curious of who you are, my parents talk a lot about you, but I still feel like I don't know anything"

"Well my name is Chanyeol" the prince held out his hand with the most sincere smile that Baekhyun had ever seen; the prince had no choice but to take it and shake it, noticing how the smile got bigger, "and it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Well my name is Baekhyun, nice to meet you as well”

They both laughed as they slowly moved their hands away. The atmosphere was less heavy now, almost pleasant. They were both grateful that the tension was gone.

“So, Chanyeol, tell me about yourself, your house, your family, or your favorite color. Whatever you want"

“Well, I was born in the Burma Sea, near Indonesia; my family is distributed along the Pacific ring of fire and it is… Very different from this place, certainly, they are totally opposite”

"Different?" Baekhyun tilted his head, confused. He had never left the kingdom, much less gone beyond the Antarctic Ocean, inside his head, he can’t even imagine something totally different from what he had always known.

“It is a volcanic area, the entire belt is. Earthquakes and eruptions happen almost constantly, and the water is very, very hot. It is a difficult area for life, but our clan has adapted, just like yours. Our skin is hard and hardly detects temperatures, so it is easy to survive when the water is almost scalding"

"Then you don't mind the cold either, do you?"

“Exactly, your kingdom is one of the coldest on the entire planet, but I hardly notice anything. Heat radiates from my body, so we are one of the few clans with the skills to survive here as well"

"It must be strange..." Baekhyun was left thinking as he looked at the horizon, the fish again swimming around him "Doesn't it bother you to be here?"

“Why would I bother? It is my duty as a prince"

“I know, but… you never thought of anything else? Study, travel- I don’t know, anything"

“I never thought beyond the kingdom” Chanyeol looked directly at Baekhyun, totally serious “my older sister, Yoora, will be the queen of the pacific one day; and my parents always told me that I would move to some other kingdom, because the ocean is for my sister. I always knew that as the younger son, my life would go no further than the palace"

"That's sad…"

"Maybe" Chanyeol shrugged "I learned to live with it, didn't you?"

Baekhyun let out a sarcastic laugh, but then shook his head "I never managed to understand it, I never understood why I can't have a normal life like the rest of the people in the kingdom"

Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol as well, while the other prince nodded; both could be understood. Baekhyun shrugged.

"My parents always say that our destiny was written, I did not learn to live with it, but I resigned myself. I think it's the best for everyone"

"Yeah" Chanyeol couldn't do anything but nod, "Still, I hope we can get along."

"I hope so too, seriously"

They both ended the conversation, feeling the tension around them a little bit lightened. They couldn't add any more feelings on the first day, especially knowing that dinner with their parents was still ahead. Baekhyun liked Chanyeol; he didn't know exactly if "like" was the right word, but he believed he had found a person who understood him. Both resigned to the life that destiny choose for them, and well, it could definitely be much worst.

They were sitting on the rock, looking at the horizon as the lights floated back and forth in the garden, creating beautiful effects with the fish and plants they passed. Baekhyun was bored with the same image, while Chanyeol found himself mesmerized by the little show that marine life offered him. So absorbed was he in the scenery, that he barely noticed Baekhyun speaking to him.

"Shall we walk?"

"¿walk? Oh, of course"

There was no great exchange of words between them as they drifted around the great garden, but the company was nice. From time to time Chanyeol mentioned something or other, “how nice” “I have never seen this type of fish” or “in the castle where I come from there are only sharks around”; Baekhyun nodded with a smile, rather absorbed in his thoughts, focused on the dinner that was slowly approaching.

Earlier, much earlier than Baekhyun would have liked, Kyungsoo found them in the garden and told them that dinner would be being served in fifteen minutes, which barely gave them time to get to the main dining room. All the way back, Kyungsoo scolded them both about straying too far, and assured Baekhyun that it would be his fault if the three of them were late for dinner.

"Sit down, quick!" Kyungsoo grabbed Baekhyun's arm and pointed to one of the chairs on the side of the table, Baekhyun quickly took his place as Kyungsoo turned to Chanyeol; "Prince, please sit next to him"

"Sure-"

"Why don't you yell at him but you yell at me?"

"For obvious reasons" Kyungsoo shook his head just before hurriedly glancing at his watch, "the king and the queen should be here anytime-"

And just at that instant, the French doors connecting the throne room to the main dining room opened to make way for Baekhyun's parents. The servants in the room bowed to welcome the royal couple, while both Chanyeol and Baekhyun nodded their heads in greeting.

"Good evening, dear, I hope we have not kept you waiting too long" Baekhyun’s mother said directly to Chanyeol before getting close to him.

"Not at all, my queen" Chanyeol smiled at her as she approached holding out her hand; and following the royal manners, the prince took it and kissed the front of it, right before making a little bow with his head, still sitting on the seat Kyungsoo assigned him.

Baekhyun was looking at the scene with a grimace, not used to so many formalities between his parents, just before Kyungsoo tapped him on the shoulder and gave him one of those looks _if you don't behave, I'll kill you_.

Both kings sat at the ends of the table, facing each other, while Baekhyun and Chanyeol were both sitting together on the right side of the king. In front of them there was a door leading directly to the main kitchen of the castle.

"Thank you so much for joining us at our dinner today, Chanyeol, I hope this is one of the many upcoming times this family has dinner together" the king mentioned.

"I hope the same, your majesty, I am glad to be welcomed into the family"

"Of course, darling! About that…" the queen looked at the servants who lined the wall, away from the central table "we have private matters to discuss, so your presence is not necessary; the cooks can serve the food, everyone else can leave"

And, still in line, the servants bowed and left; even Kyungsoo, who was also a close friend of the royal family, was forced to leave the room with his companions. Baekhyun gulped, if Kyungsoo was leaving, then the situation was really serious.

Great! A wonderful family dinner talking about your commitment to the _practically_ stranger you his side, sounds like a plan. Baekhyun had nothing against Chanyeol, seriously, he likes him a little bit; but these kinds of embarrasing conversations weren't his favorite hobby.

There was an awkward and tense silence in the great room as the cooks came out of the kitchen with trays full of food: seaweed, fish, shellfish; everything you could imagine in a top-notch royal banquet, only the best ingredients for the kings and the future heirs to the throne.

The queen again dispatched the cooks to the kitchen, and finally the four of them were left alone in the large room.

“So, guys, you both know that marriage is inevitable” both agreed before the king's words, “and it must be soon, the crown needs to secure heirs as soon as possible; we don't expect them to have children as soon as you get married, but-"

"Father, please, we met today" Baekhyun sighed "I understand that talking about the wedding is necessary, but please, let's ignore that other topic"

"Baekhyun, son, maybe you're not interested, but you don’t know what Chanyeol thinks”

"No, it's alright, your majesty" Chaneyol stopped him with a smile, trying to sound as nice as possible "if Baekhyun doesn't want to talk about this we can focus on the wedding; he's right, I think it's too early to talk about heirs"

"Well" the king sighed as Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol to mutter a "thank you", the other prince just winked.

At least they were both on the same page, Baekhyun was relieved.

"Then, about the wedding..."

A more or less awkward conversation began, with many strange silences in which only the chewing of food and the light tapping of the fork and knife against the expensive porcelain that kings used only on special occasions could be heard. Baekhyun was looking at the dishes, obviously his parents wanted to impress Chanyeol, although the other prince looked pretty calm.

"Do you agree, Baekhyun?"

"Huh?" He wasn't even paying attention, spaced out, just chewing his food ignoring the conversation going on around him.

"We could organize the wedding quickly, maybe between two weeks and a month"

"Two weeks?" Baekhyun looked at his parents and then at Chanyeol, who looked almost as nervous as him. Two weeks. That was… short, very short. "Father, I don't know if we can get married so soon... I, we, it's impossible, we met today."

"That doesn't matter, son," his father assured him with a smile, just before shoving a piece of tuna into his mouth, leaving everyone waiting for an answer as he lethargically chewed on the piece of fish. Only after swallowing he gave the prince an answer; “you are going to get married anyway, at some point, it doesn't matter if it is in two weeks, in a month, or in a year; you can get to know each other after marriage, just like before marriage, but the kingdom needs to make sure that the union with Prince Chanyeol is serious"

“And that means getting married when we barely know each other, right? It's crazy father, do you even know if Chanyeol agrees? " Baekhyun was starting to lose his temper, it was too early, too hasty, it almost seemed a random decision what his parents were telling him.

"Okay" Chanyeol spoke, causing both the king and Baekhyun to shut up to hear him speak; the prince just kept giving smiles to everyone in the room, trying to calm the situation “the date that the kings decide is fine for me, and he is right anyways; delaying it won't do any good, especially when we've been engaged for so long "

The king laughed openly, excited "I like how that sounds, you definitely sound like a good king. I'm glad to hear that I'm leaving the kingdom in the hands of someone like you, Chanyeol. "

"You flatter me, your majesty" the prince smiled back at the king under the watchful eye of Baekhyun, who slowly sank into his chair and put his fork aside, fully knowing that there would be no more discussions on the subject of the wedding. His parents would do what they wanted and he, as always, would be forced to accept it with a smile and agree to all kinds of requests that they both had.

It had always been this way.

Looking at the profile of Chanyeol, who nodded to everything his parents offered, he knew this was going to end really bad.

Dinner ended without a hitch, and many things were quickly decided. The wedding would be in 2 weeks, and each and every royal family along the ocean would be invited. The ceremony would be in the central square of the town, and all citizens who wanted to join to celebrate the union of both princes would be invited. Dinner and dancing would take place in the castle, an incredible feast of 5 of the most delicate dishes, prepared by the royal team of cooks. The kings made it clear that they would take care of everything, of course.

When dinner was over, the princes were allowed to return to their rooms. Baekhyun didn't even bother to talk to Chanyeol and went straight to his room. He ended up lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling for he didn't even know how long. Baekhyun couldn’t help but overthink everything that was happening.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

"Hello?" Baekhyun muttered just before the door slid open slightly, revealing Kyungsoo's head poking out to look at him.

"I can come in?"

"Sure" the prince nodded, although he did not move from the bed. Kyungsoo passed by and closed the door behind him, slowly approaching Baekhyun.

"How was dinner?"

"How do you think it was?"

Kyungsoo sighed, sitting next to him on the bed "do you want to talk about it?"

Baekhyun nodded his head, his lips formed a little pout and soon, Kyungsoo was laying on the bed next to him. Kyungsoo could be someone serious and responsible in his work within the castle as the servant of the king, but he was also his best friend. Right now, Baekhyun doesn't need someone to guide him, he needs someone to listen to him, to be there for him, because he knows that inside the castle there are not many people who can really be trusted.

"The wedding is in two weeks" Baekhyun sighed as Kyungsoo fixed his hair, muttering "hmm" from time to time to let him understand that he was still listening; "I tried to make them understand that it is impossible for us to get married so soon... It's only a couple of weeks, we just met today, what do you want to happen? They could give us some more time, anything-"

"Why do you think it is so early?"

"My father says it's for the kingdom, people will be calm when we get married... But I don't want to have children as soon as we get married, it's too fast, I don't even know if Chanyeol is interested in having children-"

"Your parents are still young, there is no reason for the wedding to be so fast... I don't understand, why are they rushing things?"

"I do not know! It's what I think, but obviously they're not going to listen to me…" Baekhyun sighed, looking at the ceiling again. “Even Chanyeol, I thought he would support me with something. In the garden we were talking and he told me that he is resigned to living this life and now he just accepted everything my parents said"

"So the wedding is okay for him?"

"I guess so..." Baekhyun closed his eyes just before covering them with his hands, frustrated "I'm tired of never being taken into account. Even when I say how I feel, my father will just < _ignore it for the good of the people >_ and what about me? I don’t matter?”

"Of course you do, Baek" Kyungsoo looked up at him with raised eyebrows, coming over to hug his friend. Baekhyun just leaned against him, grateful to have him there "do you think there is any way to convince them to change the wedding?"

“I don't think we can do anything” Baekhyun denied, “maybe I should learn from Chanyeol, I can't expect anything, I just have to resign myself. I guess destiny will decide my future. "

"That's horrible"

Baekhyun smiled sadly.

“I know, but it is what it is. I'll just say yes and wait for everything to go well, that's what I always do"

"It's what you always do..." Kyungsoo sighed, patting him on the back to try to comfort him "and look where we are now, it seems that fate is not very good with you"

━━✧♛✧━━

The weeks went by quickly. Literally everyone in the castle had been preparing the princes' wedding these past weeks: everyone except Baekhyun. His parents assured him that they had everything under control, he just needed to practice some traditional dancing and his wedding vows; which, by the way, he wasn’t allowed to write by himself.

Amid all the hustle and bustle, he and Chanyeol were barely able to properly hold a conversation. The prince spent the weeks practically being dragged by both kings and servants to different places: clothing stores, markets, private dance classes and private appointments with the king in his office to discuss the future configuration of the kingdom.

They still all dined together "as a family," but there wasn't much more to say other than talking about the wedding. The wedding this. The wedding that. Baekhyun just felt small in his seat as he thought about why he was the only one who seemed unhappy with the whole situation; even Chanyeol looked happy and smiling talking about the preparations for the ceremony with his mother or the future coronation as kings with his father.

As soon as he could, Baekhyun would excuse himself and get up from the table to go directly to his room. He felt that the only one who understood him was Kyungsoo, who day after day listened to him and comforted him when they were alone.

It was the night before the wedding. Their parents had excused them both from dinner with the excuse of sleeping early, because tomorrow would be "the big day."

Baekhyun thought it would be a night like any other, however, Chanyeol called him in the middle of the great hall. He turned to him and watched the prince swim until they were both side by side.

"Would you like to go for a walk?"

"I don't know, it's late-"

"Please, it won't be much, I just want to spend a little time alone with you" Chanyeol looked at him with the brightest eyes and Baekhyun couldn't say no. He sighed and nodded, before reaching out for the prince to take his hand.

"Come, I know a place where no one is going to bother us"

Chanyeol smiled and happily took Baekhyun's hand, who led them back to the palace garden. However, this time they got deeper into it, and when Chanyeol thought they had already reached the place that Baekhyun wanted, he directed them to the surface of the ocean.

It was deep, very deep, in an area more than 3 miles deep from the sea surface, so it took a while to get to where Baekhyun intended to go. They couldn't get out of the water, as the surface was covered with a thick layer of ice, but what was on the other side could be glimpsed through the ice.

"This is my favorite place" Baekhyun mentioned, lying horizontally in the water, with the ice in front of him. Chanyeol mimicked the pose and stood by his side, noting how little of what was on the other side of the surface was visible. "Do you want to see what I can do?"

"Sure" the prince nodded, curious, just before Baekhyun closed his eyes to focus on his own energy. Soon, numerous balls of energy equal to those floating around the seabed materialized around him and began to float until they managed to break through the ice. They didn't break it, they didn't teleport, they just walked through it as if going through 20 inches of ice was a simple task.

"What was that?" Chanyeol asked, watching the energy balls move around the other side of the surface.

"You'll see" Baekhyun assured him. Just seconds later, the balls exploded into colored fragments that spread through the air and a small aurora borealis, full of lights and colors, formed in front of them. It was blurry from the ice, but the colors were still perfectly distinguishable.

“When I want to distance myself from what happens in the castle, I come here at night. Many times you can see the real Northern Lights, but when it is not there, I do it myself” Baekhyun let himself float, relaxed. Chanyeol thought the aurora he created was pretty, but the prince was even more so. The lights were reflecting off his skin and his scales, he was practically shining with his own light, and Chanyeol couldn't take his eyes off him.

"It is very beautiful"

“I know, I really like to watch it, only ice is really boring. I wonder what it would be like to see the sky without anything separating us from it"

"Have you never seen the sky?"

"Darling, look where I live" Baekhyun gestured to point around "the whole kingdom is in the depths of the ocean, and even if you go up here, there is only ice. I never saw the sky, but I would like to"

“Maybe I can take you to my kingdom one day” Chanyeol mentioned “the sky is always blue, there are hardly any clouds, just the sun; it is really nice."

"If we are ever allowed to leave the kingdom" Baekhyun muttered "my parents always tell me that if I stay away for too long, they may not have enough energy to power all the lights"

"We will find a way!"

Baekhyun smiled at the other prince's enthusiasm, but deep down, he knew it was almost impossible for him to ever have the permission or the courage to walk away from the Antartic. As much as he disliked the responsibility on his shoulders, it was still there.

"We barely saw each other since I came to the kingdom" Chanyeol said as he looked back at the dawn "and tomorrow is the wedding, time passed too fast"

"The time did not pass quickly, but it was short... 2 weeks is not enough, we had to convince them in some way to delay it, at least a few months, I can't even believe that we are going to get married"

"Tomorrow..." Chanyeol sighed, feeling a ball of nerves in his stomach "Baekhyun, do you really want to marry me?"

The prince smiled, moving closer to Chanyeol. They both looked at each other.

"We could say that... I resigned myself."

"It's because me?" Chanyeol asked him quickly.

“No, it's not you” Baekhyun denied, passing one of his hands over the prince's cheeks “I just didn't imagine that my life would be like this, I'm sorry if I made you think that you are the problem; rather... I am, I am the problem here"

"You are not a problem, I think what you think is quite normal"

"If I'm not a problem, then why does everyone seem happy except me?"

Chanyeol sighed, looking directly into Baekhyun's light blue eyes. So bright, and at the same time so empty.

"People are not as happy as they appear to be, Baekhyun, you are simply sincere"

"Then maybe I should stop being honest, because it's not working for me" the prince laughed sarcastically, as Chanyeol looked at him in dismay.

"Baek, I know this is not the best situation or the best time, but I promise to do everything possible to make you happy" both princes looked at each other, testing each other, trying to understand what was going through their minds in this moment.

"Okay" Baekhyun nodded "I trust you Chanyeol"

The prince smiled "I will do anything, I promise!"

Baekhyun straightened up, still touching his cheek, drawing even closer to Chanyeol's body. He noticed how the prince blushed and soon, his whole body heated up; It must have been part of the powers to adapt to the temperature the prince was in, but Baekhyun still found him adorable.

"Would you kiss me right now?"

“U-Uh, are you serious? Kiss? " Chanyeol felt his heart beat a lot faster than it should, and with that, his body heating up rapidly. The water around him began to form bubbles, boiling due to the temperature of his body.

"Come on, a kiss makes you embarrassed, and we're supposed to get married tomorrow" Baekhyun laughed and placed his arms around Chanyeol's shoulders, ending by wrapping his neck intimately. His hands, his arms, Baekhyun's entire body was frozen; Chanyeol felt his skin soften at the prince's touches.

He took a deep breath and brought his hands to Baekhyun's waist, circling it so that both bodies were practically glued together.

Soon, they were kissing.

It wasn't hot, no tongue, just his lips that met for a couple of seconds; just the two princes and the northern lights that illuminated them from the other side of the ice.

Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol, who was concentrating on the kiss, eyes closed and almost frowning as he tried to move his lips against his. Baekhyun felt good. It felt right. And again, he thought that what was between them might work.

When Baekhyun's light magic ended and the aurora completely faded, the kiss stopped. They were both looking at each other in the eye, sincere, intimate. But no one said a word after that.

When they came back to the castle, the place was completely quiet and with most of the court sleeping no one was found on the way to their respective rooms. The princes parted in the main corridor, as each had to go in a different direction.

"Baekhyun" Chanyeol caught his attention and he quickly turned to look at him. Baekhyun saw the prince waving at him "see you tomorrow."

Baekhyun nodded "we'll see you at the altar"

"I'll be waiting for you there”

━━✧♛✧━━

And they both went their way, tomorrow was definitely going to be a very busy day, and they had to get all the energy possible tonight. Or at least that's what Baekhyun was planning to do before entering his room and seeing Kyungsoo sitting on his bed, right in the middle of the room.

"What are you doing here?" The prince asked, as he approached the bed. Kyungsoo had never suddenly appeared in his room, not without a reason.

"I need to talk with you"

"Come in" Baekhyun sat next to him, looking at him curiously "I'm all ears"

Kyungsoo took a deep breath just before holding Baekhyun's shoulders. He was looking at the prince in dismay, his brow furrowed and his brows arched, and Baekhyun wondered if he had ever seen him like this.

"Do you want to get married? Please be honest with me, I need the truth. Do you want all this going on, do you want Prince Chanyeol?"

Baekhyun bit his lower lip and lowered his head, knowing very well the direction the conversation would take. He shook his head, no, Kyungsoo should know better.

"You know the answer, Kyungsoo, I never asked for this."

"Then I want to give you options, Baekhyun."

"What?"

They both looked at each other, Kyungsoo was determined as he firmly held onto the prince's shoulders. Again, he was not Kyungsoo, the royal servant; he was Kyungsoo, his best friend.

"It's your decision, and I'm not going to judge you for anything you decide to do", he clarified before continuing to speak, now lowering his voice, taking care that anything from this conversation left the room "if you go out tonight, you can follow the Antarctic subpolar current and then go north until you enter the Humboldt currents until you reach the equator. So you just need to follow the north current for a couple of days and you will reach the shores of Japan. You must reach the yellow ocean and continue along the coast until you find the port of Seoul. "

"Kyungsoo, wait, what are you saying?" Kyungsoo looked him in the eye. Baekhyun gulped, scared.

"I am giving you an alternative" he sighed, looking at the ground "when you get to the port, you need to look for Kim Jongin and Kim Jongdae"

"Who are they?"

"Former inhabitants of the kingdom" Kyungsoo dropped his shoulders, not sure what to do with his hands. “They are old friends of mine, now they live as humans, tell them that you are the prince and that you come from me; they will help you, I'm sure"

"Kyungsoo-" Baekhyun had no words for this moment, his mind was blank, he didn't know what to say "are you proposing to me... run away?"

“I am only giving you one option” the servant denied, “I know you never had many options, but now I’m offering you something else. You can choose to ignore me and tomorrow we will both forget everything I just said... Or you can leave, you decide"

Baekhyun bit his lip. He looked at Kyungsoo, his room, the window, the door. Everything.

"Come here," Kyungsoo muttered, spreading his arms. Baekhyun quickly approached him, burying his head in his shoulder and enjoying the needed hug. Kyungsoo circled his back, rubbing in circles to comfort the boy snuggling against him.

“You have options, Baekhyun, don't be afraid to be a bit selfish this time; you're a good person, I'm not going to blame you for wanting to live your life" Kyungsoo sighed before breaking away from the hug and holding his cheeks "I'm going to leave this room now, you decide, I'm never going to tell anyone what just happened"

Baekhyun sighed nervously. Was he really willing to give up everything? His kingdom, his family, his only friends? Did he have the courage to leave Chanyeol the day before his wedding?

His head was a complete mess, he didn't know what to do. Would you leave everything in search of your own happiness?

"I'm sorry for telling you this so suddenly, but please bear it in mind" Kyungsoo smiled at him, knowing that it would probably be the last time he saw his friend “you will never know what could have happened if you don’t take risks, and we will be fine in the kingdom even if you are not around, I’m sure your parents will find a way”

They hugged again and Baekhyun felt his eyes itching. Soon, he was crying against Kyungsoo's comforting shoulder, bright tears floating around the room.

"I love you very much, Kyungsoo"

"I love you too" the hug became stronger "that's why I'm telling you this, because I want you to be happy"

“Please take care of Chanyeol; he's a good person, don't let my parents tell him anything "

"Of course, Baekhyun" Kyungsoo nodded, rubbing his own eyes; he had to be strong, he couldn't cry now in front of the prince "take care of yourself, please"

"I will”

Kyungsoo took his hands, squeezing them “remember, just follow the currents towards the equator and then towards the yellow sea… Look for the port of Seoul, and there Jongin and Jongdae, it shouldn't be difficult; the sea will guide you there"

Baekhyun nodded, returning the handshake "thank you very much for everything"

"It's nothing" Kyungsoo denied and released him before turning towards the door "so this is a goodbye?"

Baekhyun took a deep breath and even though Kyungsoo couldn't see him, he nodded.

"It's a goodbye"

"Goodbye then, prince, I wish you good luck in your new life"

Baekhyun didn't even have time to reply, as Kyungsoo had already left the room and closed the door behind him. He stood still, in the middle of the room, trying to process everything that had just happened; was he really going to leave?

He slowly approached his bed and thought, really, he thought a lot. He thought about Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, whom he considered his friends there. Baekhyun touched his lips and thought about the kiss he had just given Chanyeol, was he going to leave him just before their wedding? Even if the two of them weren't really in love, or something like that, he didn't even look capable of abandoning someone at the altar. But at the same time, was he even capable of going to the altar? To say the vows someone else had prepared for him? Would he really spend his entire life with Chanyeol? Maybe it was better for both of them if Baekhyun just disappeared.

Kyungsoo told him that the kingdom would do well without him, maybe he should take his word for it.

It was now or never.

He took one last deep breath before beginning to search in the room for anything that might be useful on his journey. He took a bag and there he put a diary in which he kept information on the currents, in case he got lost on the way; he also put some personal items: simple necklaces that he had made in the midst of boredom and even some pearl earrings that Kyungsoo had given him a couple of years ago. Then he looked around, thinking and thinking, "what do I need?"

It was then that he realized that anything here was _his_. There was nothing he really missed except what he had already put in his bag; nothing in the room had great personal value, despite having been his for so long. Most of the things were simply items that as a prince, he should have: fancy clothes, jewels, and even his crown; he didn't need any of that, not now, not in the new life that was about to begin.

When he was about to leave, he remembered Chanyeol again. Her heart was getting smaller at the thought of simply abandoning one of the few people with whom he had truly shared his thoughts, even if he had known him for a short time. Baekhyun went to his dresser and reached for a shell and a scalpel and quickly carved out a few last words for him; he would have liked to say them to his face, and in other circumstances, but he feared this was the best he could do at this moment.

So with his bag on his shoulder and the shell held firmly in his right hand, he opened the bedroom window and swam out. Towards the future. Towards his new life.

But first of all, he went to Chanyeol's room and carefully placed the shell on the windowsill. Hopefully he would see it.

"I'm so sorry, please be happy," he repeated the words carved into the shell to himself, just before finally leaving the castle and beginning his way to the open sea. Baekhyun just hoped he was making the right decision, because now there was no going back.


	2. Pacific

Keep swimming. Don’t stop. Just keep swimming. Baekhyun repeated himself after almost 4 hours of moving without any rest. However, it seemed that pushing the boundaries had worked, as he no longer felt the magical energy of the kingdom around him.

Yes, the water was still frozen, yes, the surface was still totally covered by ice and yes, he could hardly see anything because of the darkness surrounding the bottom of the sea. But Baekhyun felt that he was getting somewhere, he already felt that he was away from everything. And if his calculations were correct, the water would soon become clearer and warmer.

Baekhyun was excited!

He had promised himself not to think of anything that could make him turn back, because at this point, it was impossible to go back and just pretend nothing had happened when he had practically missed his wedding. So, from the moment Baekhyun started his journey, he made a mental note to hit himself if the thought of going back crossed his mind.

It was better if he thought about all the things that the future would bring, who knows! From now on everything was uncertain and, at some point, Baekhyun found it very exciting. He just hoped this twist would improve his life, and not make it worse.

Little by little the water became clearer as Baekhyun rose to the surface, expecting the ice to be soft. And it was! The rays of the sun filtered through the blocks of ice that broke under the pressure of the waves and the heat of the morning sun. He was nervous. He was excited. He was impressed.

With all of his strength, Baekhyun pushed himself up until his head came out of the water. He soon grabbed onto one of the floating ice chunks to keep his body out of the water. It was not the best situation, nor the most comfortable position, and he didn’t even think the ice could be stable for a lot more time; but it was all worth it now. Under the sun, under the sky.

He raised his head and his eyes filled with tears as he finally had a clear vision of what the world was like outside of water. The sun shining over the horizon, bringing the first rays of the morning, and the sky in a pink tone typical of dawn. Baekhyun couldn't imagine anything better than this, nothing better than the sun; brilliant, like him.

Baekhyun has never felt more alive.

━━✧♛✧━━

The journey was longer than what he expected, and in total it took about two weeks to reach the Yellow Sea. Baekhyun swam all day, every day, leaning on some larger fishes that migrated down currents when he was too tired, and resting at night on the seabed. He ate some seaweed and mollusks that he himself found in his breaks, while telling himself over and over again that all the effort he was making on this trip was for a better future.

But the most important thing was the freedom. He would wake up early in the morning to calmly float across the surface of the sea while watching the sun rise just at dawn, and he would end his day each day by going out and watching the sun go down on the horizon. It was so pretty, so bright, so wide. Every time he looked at the sky, he could taste freedom and there was nothing better compared to that.

It was noon when he reached the shores of Seoul, and he was a little nervous. He stayed around the harbor, hidden from the humans underwater, but close enough to hear them speak and locate himself. Sure enough, he was in the port of Seoul, after days of wandering across the Yellow Sea he had reached his destination.

Thanks to Kyungsoo's precise directions, the maps in his diary, and his incredible orientation inside the water.

Now the problem is finding the boys, Jongin? Jongdae? Baekhyun doesn’t know them, but if Kyungsoo thought they were to be trusted, he would go all out. After all, he hadn't come all this way to turn around like a coward now.

Baekhyun was on the port, a big one, full of cargo and fishing boats; he had to be very careful and practically crawl along the bottom of the coast to try not to be seen. He didn't get any calmer until he was under the dock, hidden between old wooden boards and barnacle-strewn rocks. Then he allowed himself to lift his head out of the water and begin to think of a real plan to find both boys.

They were mermaids, right? And inhabitants of his kingdom... If that was true, then the simplest way would be to attract them with magic. He took a deep breath, the salty smell of barnacles deep in his nostrils and his head filled with the voices of sailors and fishermen who stomped on the wood above him.

Then, Baekhyun was able to materialize another small ball of energy; sparkly as a firefly.

"Look for Jongin and Jongdae" he murmured against the light, almost in a whisper "you will know who they are, bring them here with me" and then he blew air directly on it, propelling the little ball of light.

Baekhyun was confident that he would bring them here soon and safely, so he just waited, trying to listen to conversations going on here and there at the port. A ship arrived with cargo, a yacht landed passengers, and many fishing boats brought in some of the freshest fish to sell at the market at noon. He had never seen a human before, and he couldn't imagine how they lived, so just listening to the mundane conversations going on above him was incredibly exciting.

Baekhyun forgot about the time, he didn't know if minutes or hours had passed since he sent the light to look for the two boys. And then the ball came back to him with the song of hurried steps over the wooden boards.

"Jongdae, for the last time, what are we doing here?"

"I'm telling you, you idiot" the boy grumbled as walked in circles almost randomly "that thing we saw earlier, we're following it!"

"But why?"

"Because it told me we had to follow it"

"Oh, and of course you listen to a shiny ball that appears at home out of nowhere-"

"Just shut up and keep looking, Jongin!"

So they were actually Jongdae and Jongin, finally. Little by little, Baekhyun came out from bellow the pier, very careful not to be seen by humans, but it seemed that by midafternoon there was not much activity. The fishermen were gone and the dock was occupied by the large loading and unloading boats that he himself heard arriving.

He climbed out from under the dock and stuck his head out of the water. The energy ball floated around him and he was finally able to get a full view of the two boys, who were graciously searching for the light ball.

"Hello?"

Both boys seemed to freeze for a moment, while slowly turning their heads towards Baekhyun in the water. None of the three spoke, Jongdae and Jongin shocked and Baekhyun too embarrassed to say anything.

"Hey" Jongdae finally spoke, seeming to be the first to emerge from the initial shock, cautiously approaching the edge of the pier to see Baekhyun, "I, um- excuse me, but-"

"Are you Jongdae and Jongin?" Baekhyun asked them directly, although he already knew the answer. Slowly both boys nodded, still staring at the floating head in the water.

"And you are?" Jongin asked first, much more cautious than Jongdae who was practically about to jump into the water to confirm if Baekhyun was a mermaid.

"My name is Baekhyun, Byun Baekhyun"

"Byun..."

“Byun as in… The Byuns? The Royal Family?"

Baekhyun nodded several times "Kyungsoo sent me here, he told me to find you"

Jongin gasped, covering his mouth with his hand, "Do you know Kyungsoo?"

"He's my best friend" Baekhyun nodded with a smile "and well, my servant"

Jongdae was beginning to understand the situation while he felt his brain moving at a thousand revolutions per minute. The boy in front of him was a mermaid, with magical powers since he made a light ball appear, also belongs to the Byun family, whom Kyungsoo served. There was only one option.

Jongdae extended a hand towards Baekhyun, his eyes serious, dark.

"Prince Baekhyun?"

He smiled, denying.

"Just Baekhyun, no more prince" and in their eyes, Baekhyun saw that he owed both of them a long, long explanation. Sadly, there was no time right now for that, since in basically any moment the humans could be back to the pier and start wondering what was happening; “I can explain everything, I promise”

Jongdae looked at Jongin. Jongin looked at Jongdae. They had to do something.

"We'll talk later, now, do you see that beach?" Jongdae pointed to a small sandy cove that was somewhat far from the pier, Baekhyun nodded “go there, hide in the rocks and we will meet there. If we're going to get you out of the water, we'd better have some clothes to avoid attracting attention"

"Okay, I'll wait there" Baekhyun looked at the beach, it was easy, he could do that.

"Do you really trust us?" Jongin spoke, narrowing his eyes. Baekhyun nodded again.

“If Kyungsoo thinks you are good people, then you are trustworthy; I know he wouldn't send me here with a bad intention, or I hope so"

"Well, I guess that makes sense”

Jongdae rolled his eyes and pushed him to start walking; the more time they spent in the midst of humans, the more chances they had of attracting people’s eyes. Baekhyun heard "see you now!" in Jongdae's voice, just before he got back into the water with the goal of reaching the beach safely. He really hoped Kyungsoo hadn't sent him to his death or something, but both boys seemed friendly, so he wasn't that concerned.

And after waiting barely 10 or 15 minutes, he saw both boys running down the beach towards the rocks with a couple of bags on their backs. He had chosen a rather difficult place to swim to, and much more difficult to reach by walking on the rocks, but it seemed that both Jongdae and Jongin were okay with jumping between slippery surface.

They were both surprisingly fast and made it to Baekhyun safely.

"Hey!" Jongdae greeted him with a hand, panting after running over. Jongin was at his side, carrying a backpack that seemed to be heavier, but he was barely breathing with any difficulty. Baekhyun was looking at them with bright eyes, and his only thought was " _very cool_ "

"Hello" Baekhyun pulled his body out of the water a bit more, leaning on the rocks and0 leaving his arms completely out of the water.

"Did we take a long time?"

"No, I just arrived"

"Great!" Jongdae smiled at him as he quickly took out of the bag that he carried a small flask full of a really suspicious liquid, neon green and bubbly "now, I need you to take this"

"What is... What is that?" Baekhyun looked at the small bottle with distrust, he had never swallowed anything so liquid because mermaids acquire all liquids by absorbing water through their skin. Definitely, if someone else told Baekhyun that he had to swallow something like that in any other situation, he would have rejected it.

"It's a disguise" Jongdae let Baekhyun get the strange potion "It won't do you any harm, it's more like an illusion... Jongin and I use it, it will give you a human appearance once you get out of the water"

"For how long?"

"Indefinitely, but you can return to your mermaid form as long as you are in contact with salty water”

Baekhyun nodded and without much thought he closed his eyes, brought the vial to his mouth, and swallowed the entire potion without making any excuses. It was hot and he felt his throat almost burn as the liquid went down. He felt sick and dizzy, so much so that he had to rest his head against one of the rocks. Jongdae had reached down just to quietly pat his should.

"Don’t worry, at first it's always a bit weird, when you feel better you can walk to the beach shore, we will be waiting for you there"

Baekhyun nodded as he watched both boys turn around again, carefully walking back to the sand. Little by little, he started to feel better, his head was no longer spinning and he did not feel that his intestines were burning under the effects of the potion; so Baekhyun decided it was time to try to get out of the water.

He was cautious on reaching the sand, basically crawling once he couldn't swim anymore. Jongin reached out to help him, taking Baekhyun in his arms to get him completely out of the water. Jongdae was prepared with a large towel taken from the backpack that Jongin had brought.

It was very, very strange to be totally out of the water; and it was even stranger to be out of the water and _dry_. At least the potion worked and once Baekhyun was totally free of salt water on the surface of his skin, the scales on his body started to glow and, most importantly, all his mermaid features completely disappeared. His tail was gone, the scales on his cheeks, shoulders, or hands were gone, and his ears were rather round and less pointed. At least he didn't feel any pain.

"You're good?" Jongin asked cautiously, as he slowly left him sitting on the sand.

Baekhyun nodded, moving a little. He moved his fingers, hands, and arms; then he shook his head and tried to move his ears. Unfortunately, they did not move. Finally, he moved his legs a little, bent his knees, and buried his toes in the warm sand. Oh god, that tickled.

"Yes, yes, I’m okay" he nodded several times in a row. Having legs was so… Strange, but it didn’t feel bad.

"Any questions?" Jongdae mentioned as he went back to the backpack in search of some clothes.

"Many, but… What is this?"

Both Jongin and Jongdae turned to see Baekhyun narrow his eyes as he looked at… oh, his penis. Jongin went into a kind of hysterical laugh as Jongdae hit his arm under the words "You're old enough to laugh at dick jokes, asshole"

Baekhyun was very entertained.

"That is the reproductive organ of humans, I will give you a book about the human body or something like that when we are at home, because I am not going to explain what is done with that"

"Okay, thanks" Baekhyun left his penis alone, Jongin laughed again and Jongdae repeatedly shook his head while passing some clothes to the naked prince.

Baekhyun dressed without much difficulty, after all the mermaids could also wear clothes (or tops, at least), so he was used to the movements. The pants and underwear were more complicated, but with a little help from both of them he managed to get to up on his feet and finish dressing properly.

"Jongin, carry him home"

"What? Why?"

"It will be faster, if we try to walk it will take a million years to return"

"But-"

"I could try to go by myself" Baekhyun suggested, still being held in place by Jongin. Jongdae laughed and left some space to walk right in front of him.

"Of course! Try to take a step, please"

Baekhyun was determined. He squinted at the ground, challenging it in his mind, and then prepared himself to take the first step. He took a deep breath, decided to left Jongin’s side, and moved one leg. The next thing he knows is that his face was about 3 millimeters above the ground and that someone was holding his arm to keep him from completely falling.

"Yeah, exactly what I was thinking" Jongdae laughed as he lifted Baekhyun from his -almost- fall, stabilizing him on both legs “we can work on your walking abilities later, but for now we need to go back home and think about what the hell are we going to do”

In the end, Jongin agreed and carried Baekhyun all the way back to the house on his back.

The journey was short, they lived on the second floor of a small building right in front of the beach, so it only took them minutes to get there. Jongin put Baekhyun on his couch and then both boys sat across from him; Jongdae on the coffee table and Jongin on a bean bag that he had dragged from the corner of the room.

The situation had gotten serious now.

"Then you are Byun Baekhyun, the prince, right?"

"Affirmative"

“What is the prince doing here? Shouldn't you be… In the castle doing princely things? "

"I kind of… ran away?"

"Why?"

"I escaped the night before my wedding" Baekhyun lowered his head, fiddling with his fingers, wrinkling the hem of the large shirt that they lend him. Both Jongin and Jongdae were giving him confused looks, so he sighed “It's a long story, but in short, my parents didn't have any more children so they made sure I got married and had heirs. They paired me with the Prince of the Pacific, but I was so nervous, you know? I hardly know him - what if I'm not ready to be the king? What if I don't want to be? What if I don't want to have children? Oh god, I would be a horrible father, Kyungsoo still tidies my room from time to time- How do you expect me to take care of a- baby? Why am I being matched up with someone randomly?"

"Wait, wait, slow down" Jongin shook his hands and Baekhyun fell silent.

“I… I just didn't want to get married, and I don't want to be king. Kyungsoo came to my room the night before the wedding and gave me instructions on how to get to you"

Jongdae let out a long "hmmm" as he nodded, but Jongin was still puzzled.

"What do you want us to do? We are not magicians or anything like that, it's not like we can hide you forever... Probably your kingdom is looking for you"

"I know" Baekhyun lowered his eyes to the ground, feeling the wood of the floor with his new feet, "I'm so sorry, but I really didn't have anywhere else to go"

"It’s fine, buddy" Jongdae tapped him on the shoulder "Kyungsoo is a great friend, I'm sure he wouldn't send you here if he wanted us to, well, get chased by the royal guard or something"

"Thank you very much" the relief was in his voice and Jongdae denied several times, giving the newcomer a smile.

“Oh, it's nothing,” he extended a hand, “by the way, official introductions. I am Kim Jongdae"

They shook hands for a couple of seconds, just before Baekhyun turned to Jongin, extending his hand. The boy took it and shook it slightly.

"Kim Jongin"

━━✧♛✧━━

At first it was a bit tricky. Everything around him was new, fascinating, brilliant.

"Oh god, what is this thing? It's so smooth"

"It's just toilet paper, Baekhyun"

"Toilet paper... what a cool thing"

He learned many things from Jongdae and Jongin. They were two brothers who had left the kingdom a couple of years ago in search of new horizons, and ended up living camouflaged among humans. Jongdae was the oldest of the two, at 28, while Jongin was the youngest at 23; they left when Jongin had barely turned 18, but they had adapted well to thir new surroundings and, above all, to their new bodies. Jongdae, however, confessed that from time to time he missed living in the sea, although he did not complain about his current life.

They now owned a bar that was located at the bottom of the building, but it was a _special_ bar. Baekhyun didn't know what that meant, but they both told him that he had to see it with his own eyes or he wouldn't believe anything they could ever tell about their dear bar.

He was excited!

There were so many new things to do and to discover, and he liked Jongdae and Jongin. Baekhyun felt comfortable with them, and understood why Kyungsoo trusted both brothers.

"Oh wait, how do you know Kyungsoo?"

"When we lived in the kingdom, we met him at the market one day and since then Jongin developed a little crush on him"

"Hey, that's not true-"

“Of course it's true! They still send letters to each other, even after all these years, they have a messenger dolphin that comes from one side to the other all the time, they send each other corny and painfully adorable letters"

Baekhyun gasped, covering his mouth with his hand. He couldn't believe Kyungsoo had something like that and never told him.

"I think it's a little cute" Baekhyun admitted, but the older brother just laughed.

"They are disgusting"

Jongdae continued to tease his brother until Jongin was so red that he had to go to the bathroom to rinse his face, otherwise he felt like he might explode with embarrassment. Baekhyun laughed at both of them, enjoying the atmosphere and the time he spent getting to know both boys a little better; they were both funny to be with, and a friendship developed between them easily. Baekhyun and Jongdae basically bonded with each other in the first few hours together and even if it was a bit more difficult with Jongin, by the end of the day they were all quite comfortable with each other.

Baekhyun thought they were good people, and he hoped they would think the same of him.

Jongdae and Jongin decided to close the bar for the rest of the day, so Jongin had to go downstairs and put a little sign on the door warning potential customers that they were closed _“sorry, we'll be back tomorrow with the normal schedule!”_

They spent the afternoon showing Baekhyun their television, their refrigerator, their laptop, and their speakers to play music. Baekhyun, instead, showed them a bit of magic. He set up some (safe) fireworks inside the house and they had a little colored lights party while blasting songs on the speakers. It was so funny that at night, Baekhyun felt his cheeks hurt from laughing so much.

"The human world is very interesting"

"Yes it is, we were very surprised when we arrived"

“Yes, especially that thing- what is it called? Phone? That's great"

"Do you want to see one thing it can do?"

Baekhyun nodded excitedly several times in a row as Jongdae turned on the phone's inner camera, pressed record, and then handed the device to Baekhyun.

"Oh my god, I'm inside the thing!"

Jongin and Jongdae laughed at him, mentioning that he looked like a little boy, while Baekhyun marveled at the advances in human technology. It was much better when Jongdae showed him the video he had recorded; Baekhyun's gasp of surprise as he watched the replay was incredibly comical.

"Oh my god, it's me again"

“Right, these things make videos! We can record anything and watch it again as many times as we want”

"That is amazing!"

Every little thing, Baekhyun was shocked. They basically gave him a little walk around the apartment while he looked at all the objects with his mouth perfectly shaped like a big O.

"If all of this sounds strange to you, let’s see what happens when we show you around the city, you're going to be really impressed" Jongin mentioned as Baekhyun turned on and off the faucet in the kitchen sink, wondering how humans teleported sea water to their houses.

"Maybe we can go when I walk better" Jongdae mentioned watching as Baekhyun stumbled around the kitchen, holding on only to the countertops. Both brothers laughed, perhaps it would be nice to be the prince's nannies.

Baekhyun spent the days with Jongin and Jongdae, who were very nice. He barely left, as he was still working on the whole business of learning to walk without falling every other step, but he was getting better and better. He could now go all the way down the hall without holding onto anything and, more importantly, without tripping even once.

He still wore clothes from the brothers, alternating between Jongin T-shirts and Jongdae pants, which were pretty comfortable for him. They also prepared a room for him, it was nothing fancy, but Baekhyun was immensely grateful; it not only meant that they accepted him into their home, but made an effort to make him comfortable inside his own space. The first few days he slept on the sofa in the living room, so it was nice to have an actual bed.

It was a small room, the bed, the wardrobe, a bookcase and a desk with a chair barely fit. Before, the room was a warehouse for some more fragile products from the bar, but they moved everything to the actual storage of the bar. They even put a nice wallpaper on it that simulated the seabed and Jongdae promised to buy him some special lights to form illuminated stars on the ceiling that Baekhyun found in an internet ad.

The three of them assembled the furniture, which was simply old furniture that the brothers kept in their basement. Jongin apologized to him for not having a better bed, but Baekhyun thought this one was perfect. They also told the prince he could help them in the bar, and admitted they had been looking for a waiter for some time. So, Baekhyun was very excited, practicing his movements with the illusion of working with them in the very special bar they had.

During the day, Jongdae went to tend the bar and Jongin stayed with him. During the night, Jongin went to tend the bar and Jongdae stayed with him.

He and Jongin played a lot on what he called a "video game console," and once Baekhyun even tried that thing, "animal crossing." He didn't know what it was, or what the game was about, but by God weren’t the little characters absolutely adorable?

They also went out a lot. Jongin decided that his abilities were good enough for a little walk on the beach, and even a little swimming-time.

It was amazing to see Jongin's mermaid form, his tail and dark green scales were so pretty, and they easily helped him hide in between algae. They had fun playing hide-and-seek, and Baekyun taught him even more tricks he had with his light magic: he ended up creating colored bubbles that glowed, so every time a fish passed through one, the fish ended up glowing as well.

When Jongdae returned home, Baekhyun was very excited telling him about everything he had done on the beach that day. Jongdae laughed as the former prince basically jumped and circled the room, interpreting everything that had happened on his return to the sea, without skipping any details.

"That sounds like a really fun day" Jongdae rubbed his shoulder and Baekhyun nodded several times in a row. His eyes were shining.

"It was a lot of fun, I really missed going back to the water"

"Sure" Jongdae nodded "maybe one day we can all go together"

"That would be amazing!"

A while later they were both on the couch watching a movie in that thing, “Netflix”. Jongdae just came out of the shower and Baekhyun had a bowl of popcorn that he just prepared (using the microwave, as Jongin taught him) on his lap.

“So are you adjusting well? It sure is not as luxurious as the castle, for sure"

"It's much better than the castle, I like it here"

"And don't you miss it?" Baekhyun sighed, snuggling against the sofa cushions as he popped a hand full of popcorn into his mouth.

"I don't miss it, but I wonder what everyone is doing… You know, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, do you think I could send them a letter asking how they are?"

"I'm sure Jongin already did, you can ask him tomorrow, and I’m sure you could even send Kyungsoo a letter if you want to" Jongdae suggested as he stole a couple of popcorn from the half-empty bowl.

"You think so? That would be great, I have to talk to Jongin then"

"Of course" Jongdae winked as he put an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulders.

Both brothers had developed a strange bond with Baekhyun. Mermaids were not solitary beings, but used to belong to groups, so when they left the kingdom, they ended up forming their little pack. Jongdae blindly trusted Jongin, and Jongin blindly trusted Jongdae; at the same time, they both appreciate Kyungsoo, and now Baekhyun. The prince had arrived suddenly and in a very short time, he felt like a little brother who had to be cared for and protected.

"Hey, Baek," Jongdae muttered, pushing the bowl of popcorn aside to put it on the coffee table, as the boy was basically licking just the salt and butter on the bottom.

"Hmm?"

"Did you ever feel part of your family? You know, with your parents, they are obviously your parents, but- attached to them? I don't know if you understand what I mean"

Baekhyun was left thinking, had he ever felt close to his parents? Honestly, if he thought of his _family_ from the castle the first person that came to mind was Kyungsoo. The second? Chanyeol, somehow. He felt selfish thinking of him that way, especially knowing that the prince probably hated him for ditching him on their wedding day, but for the short time they met he made Baekhyun feel safe.

"I don’t think so"

"And when you think of family, what do you think of?"

Oh, he thought of many things. He thought of Kyungsoo combing his hair as he scolded him for getting up late again, of Chanyeol and him watching the northern lights through the ice, of Jongin teaching him to play silly games on his video game console, or Jongdae helping him to properly make the bed of his new room.

“On my friends” Baekhyun smiled a little, lowering his head “I think about things that make me feel good, you know? My parents don't make me feel good, but you do"

Jongdae pressed him a little against him, letting Baekhyun rest his head on his shoulder and snuggle against his body.

"I'm very happy, because Jongin and I also think of you when we talk about family" he smiled, coming closer to squeeze his cheeks "so, if you want to talk at some point, you can trust any of us. Even if you decide that you don't like being here anymore and want to go back home; or if you decide to stay here, you can tell us anything that bugs you"

Baekhyun hugged him, his eyes fixed on the television screen showing the ending credits of the movie they had just seen.

"Thank you very much for that”

"It's nothing, Baek"

━━✧♛✧━━

Around four in the morning that same night, Baekhyun woke up. He felt restless, and after tossing and turning around his bed for a long ten minutes, he decided the best option was to go to the kitchen for a glass of water, wash his face to cool off, and try to go back to sleep in a couple of minutes. So he got up, left his room and walked cautiously to the kitchen, very careful not to make loud noises that might wake Jongin or Jongdae up.

He sat at the kitchen table with a glass of water in hand and looked at the horizon from the window, at this time the moon was shining brightly in the sky and stars filled the darkness of it with bright spots; Baekhyun doesn’t like nights very much, the darkness reminded him of the kingdom submerged in the depths of the Antarctic Ocean and the stars reminded him of the magic that ran through his veins. It was definitely not the best scene to think about, still half asleep in the middle of the night.

Baekhyun head a noise, and another, and another. It seemed as if someone was approaching the door from the stairs. And it would be normal, if it wasn’t because Jongdae and Jongin were both sleeping in their respective room.

Oh god, who was it? A thief? Had the royal guard found him? A serial killer? Each option was worse than the last.

Baekhyun put his half-empty glass on the table and quickly grabbed the first weapon he found in the kitchen: the broom. He took it as he had seen in those samurai movies and stood in the hall near the front door, waiting expectantly for the person who was approaching the house.

Suddenly the door started to open slowly. Baekhyun was tense, his hands were shaking as he held the broom, and as soon as the assailant was in sight Baekhyun threw a broom hit into the air.

"Don't you dare enter!"

"What the hell, dude!" Jongin replied while holding the end of the broom in his hands, preventing Baekhyun from attacking him again. The boy just stared at Jongin, his mouth slightly open, just before lights were switched on.

"What's going on?" Jongdae asked while rubbing his eyes, right after leaving his room and meeting his Jongin and Baekhyun… fighting? With the kitchen broom.

"Jongin, I’m so sorry!" Baekhyun quickly dropped the broom, before bowing to him with clasped hands, apologetically, “I thought you were sleeping! And then I, well… I heard a noise, and I was drinking water, and I thought you were a thief, or a murderer, or-"

"You- Baek, it's alright" Jongin sighed as he took the broom and left it resting against the wall, away from Baekhyun's dangerous hands "I closed the bar an hour ago, but I had to go out and do one thing before coming back here"

Jongdae sighed as he leaned against the corridor wall, arms folded "well, I appreciate that it was just a broom, and nothing worse," he laughed as he approached the duo, giving Baek a playful nudge and a handshake to his brother.

"I'm really sorry-"

"I already told you it's okay, besides, it would have been very helpful if I were a real thief"

"With my fighting skills, if you were a real mugger you’d have me knocked out in, like, three seconds"

The three of them laughed and it seemed that that little incident was already left behind. Baekhyun relaxed again and Jongin told him to go back to the kitchen to finish his glass of water while he took off the jacket he was wearing. So, thinking that the situation was under control, Jongdae mentioned that he would go back to sleep.

"Wait," Jongin muttered under his breath, taking Jongdae by the arm. He dragged him to his side, as far from the kitchen as he could "you have to see something, and you can't let Baekhyun see it"

Jongdae nodded and soon, Jongin was pulling a waterproof envelope from his jacket pocket. He quickly passed it to his brother, who tucked it into his pajama top… just in case.

"It's a letter from Kyungsoo, go back to your room and read it, it's important"

"I'm going to read it right now" Jongdae nodded, feeling the cold letter against his abdomen. Then he turned around and walked back to his room, stopping at the kitchen door; he leaned against the frame, poked his head out, and waved goodbye to Baekhyun who was diligently washing the glass of water he just used.

"Good night, Baek"

"Good night, Dae!"

Jongdae quickly went back to his room, locking the door behind him. Usually, Jongin wouldn't even let him get close to the love letters he and Kyungsoo sent each other, so this time it must be something important. He sat down on his bed, opened the envelope and began to carefully read the letter blurred by the humidity of the water.

_“From Kyungsoo, to Jongin._

_Hi, Nini. I don't know when the letter will reach you, but according to my calculations, when you have this in your hands, Prince Baekhyun should already be with you. If that is not the case, then I have to assume that the prince has decided to turn around and return to the kingdom, so then I ask you to please ignore the entire content of this letter. However, he's been "missing" for three days now, so I don't think he's going back to the castle anytime soon._

_He has probably explained the situation himself, but I would also like to do so and give you an explanation of why I sent him with you._

_Prince Baekhyun and Prince Chanyeol had their wedding planned for three days ago, but I know that Baekhyun didn't want to get married. His parents gave him no choice, he is an only child, and he needed someone else to reach the throne of the kingdom. It really hurt me a lot to see him sad and I couldn't take any more the impudence of the king and queen. As I said to him the day he decided to leave, I am not speaking as the servant, consort or whatever; right now I'm just Kyungsoo, his friend, just like I'm your friend or Jongdae's._

_Although the intentions of the Kings were good, I am sure that their marriage would not have worked under their conditions, so I decided to speak with Baekhyun the night before their wedding. I gave him instructions on how to get to you, following the currents to the Yellow Sea, and then I gave him your location near the port of Seoul. I know that he is smart, and knows the currents of the sea well, so I really hope got to you safely._

_Excuse me for giving him your address without consulting you, but I really didn't know what else I could do for him. I know the royal guard and Kings will be looking for it, of course, but I hope your location is far enough away that they don't link you to the prince's disappearance. Also, hardly anyone (except me) has known about you for years, and you blend in well enough with humans, so I really wish nothing would happen to you. In any case, if they decide to make an expedition near your area, I will try to get them away from the area as much as possible. All of you will be safe, I won’t let anything happen to you._

_About Baekhyun, please take care of him. He is a very sensitive person, he has a gold heart, but he has been through a lot. I'm sure he won't ask for much, but I myself want to be a bit selfish and make one last request: please give him a home, and I'm sure he will return all that happiness back to you._

_Thank you very much. Please don't tell Baekhyun I sent this, I don't want him to think about his life in the castle, let him have some fun now._

_He loves you, Kyungsoo."_

Jongdae finished reading the letter with tears in his eyes. Slowly he put the paper back into the letter, and then hid it at the bottom of one of the drawers in his closet; all to make sure that Baekhyun did not discover that that letter exists.

Jongdae ended up tossing and turning around in bed for hours, unable to sleep. He could only think of Baekhyun in the castle, and he was more and more curious to know everything that happened there; maybe he could ask him about his previous life one day, but as Kyungsoo said, now was not the time. Baekhyun still hadn't fully gotten used to this new life and would perhaps scare him with serious conversations; Jongdae needs Baekhyun fully trusting them, and then perhaps they could all sit down and talk seriously about everything that had previously happened in the castle.

Jongdae knew exactly where to start building that relationship: his beloved bar.

━━✧♛✧━━

Baekhyun woke up the next morning to someone knocking on his bedroom door repeatedly; he quickly jumped out of bed, still half asleep.

"Baekhyun! Can I go in? Are you presentable? " Jongdae yelled from the other side of the door, though he didn't even wait for an answer. Soon, the door was opening and the boy's blond head was poking out to look directly at Baekhyun.

"Yes, you can come in, although I guess you already did-"

"Great!" Jongdae went inside completely, leaving the door half open. Baekhyun sighed with a smile, there was no privacy in that house. It was nice to know there were no boundaries between them, though.

"Well, Baek, I wanted to propose something to you"

"Sure, go ahead"

"I don't know if you remember, but when we met I said that if you want to, you could work at the bar when you get used to your legs and stuff" Baekhyun nodded several times, he remembered it well; in fact, he had tried twice as hard trying to get used to his new legs and not floating all the time so he could work with them as soon as possible. "Well, I think it's about time, if you want, you could start today"

"Seriously?!"

"Totally! I wouldn’t joke with these things!"

"Then I'll start today!" Baekhyun jumped up, excited; he might finally be a little useful and somehow give back to Jongin and Jongdae all that they had been doing for him.

“Anytime” Jongdae ruffled his hair with a smile “I'm going down now, you can ask Jongin about anything you need. He will give you the uniform and some extra things that you will probably need. I'll wait for you at the bar, come downstairs when you're ready"

Baekhyun nodded diligently and escorted Jongdae to the door, saying goodbye to him with a "see you soon" before walking into the kitchen and finding Jongin sitting at the table, checking his phone and sipping on a cup of coffee.

"Good Morning!" Baekhyun waved as he walked straight to the fridge, pulling out a carton of strawberry milk. It was very strange for him to change his diet from only eating fish to a more humane diet that suited his new form, but after trying several different things, he ended up finding that strawberry milk was his favorite drink; the brothers ended up buying him a whole shipment of boxes of strawberry milk to make sure he had at least one pack for breakfast every day.

"Good morning" Jongin replied with a smile, watching as the boy hopped around the kitchen looking for a packet of cookies to accompany his strawberry milk. When Baekhyun found the package, he sat down with him at the table to have breakfast together.

"Jongdae told me before leaving that I could start working at the restaurant" Baekhyun spoke with a mouth full of cookies, before swallowing his strawberry milk, choking a bit on the way.

"Yes? And did he tell you when you could start?"

“He said he could go today! And told me I should ask you about my uniform and other important things"

"Oh, true!" Jongin nodded as he finished swallowing his coffee and quickly got up from the table. He hurried out of the kitchen, saying nothing, and Baekhyun couldn't do anything but watch him sneak back to his room.

Jongin came out moments later with clothes hanging from his arm and a small… box? In his hands.

"Consider this your welcome gift to the human word" the boy gave the box to Baekhyun, which was wrapped in a nice gift wrap with a pattern of colored stars "open it!"

"Oh, thank you very much" Baekhyun said while looking curiously at the box, just before starting to open it very carefully. He delicately removed the wrapping paper, not wanting to tear anything the brothers had made for him, and left it folded on the side of the kitchen table. Then it didn't take long to see the box and all the contents inside.

There were many different things, and he did not know what half of them were. He first took out a mobile phone and then some papers and cards that he didn't quite understand; so Jongin quickly began to explain.

“This is your passport, your identity document, your citizenship papers… Basically, everything you need to be a _normal human_ ; they are fake, made with magic, so the police will never know they aren’t actually true documents" Jongin winked at him and then pointed to the mobile phone" this is for you, our gift, our numbers are already saved in it, so you can talk to us whenever you want"

Baekhyun was speechless, he didn't know what to say. Both Jongin and Jongdae had helped him so much, he didn't even know if within his life he would be able to return the great favor they were doing him. He then quickly set the box on the table and got up to give Jongin a bear hug.

"Thank you very much!" Baekhyun held him in his arms, leaning his head against his shoulder "thank you very, very much... I don't even know how I can begin to thank you for all this"

Jongin laughed as he hugged him back "You don't have to thank us for anything, we do it because we appreciate you, Baek, not to receive an award or something back"

Baekhyun kept hugging him a bit longer.

"Seriously, thank you very much"

"It's nothing" Jongin rubbed his back before separating "now put on that uniform and come down to thank Dae as well, I'm sure he will be very happy to know that you liked our gift"

"Yes captain!" Baekhyun saluted, just like he had seen in that funny sponge TV series, and then proceeded to grab the uniform and box and go into his room.

He changed quickly, the uniform was quite comfortable: a short-sleeved white T-shirt with the logo of the bar drawn on his chest, and light blue jeans that went well with the logo. Then he went to the bathroom, fixed his hair, washed his face, and brushed his teeth. Now, Baekhyun is ready to go.

"I'm going down now!" he yelled from the front door into the house, receiving a "good luck on your first day" from Jongin, who was still in the kitchen.

To get to the bar you just had to go down the stairs that connected directly to the street and walk a couple of steps to the front of the building, where the front door was. Inside you could see several people sitting at random tables, Jongdae serving behind the bar, and another boy in a uniform just like his talking to children who were buying ice cream.

Baekhyun came in a little embarrassed, and extremely wary of other humans; he hadn't interacted with any of them so far, and he didn't want to sound weird or out of place, despite Jongdae and Jongin constantly telling him that he was adjusting well.

"Baek!" Jongdae greeted Baek from behind the bar and gestured for him to come closer. Baekhyun walked towards him with a nervous smile on his face "Did Jongin give you the box?"

"Yes, Jongin gave it to me" Baekhyun nodded, going to the other side of the bar to stand next to Jongdae and give him a little hug, not even comparable to the big bear hug he gave Jongin "you didn't have to. It was amazing, really; I don't know how I could give back everything you are doing for me”

"Well I know a good place to start" Jongdae said as he spread his arms to point to the whole restaurant "you know this place is like... the family business, we are glad to have your help here"

"Of course, I will do my best!"

"I know you will, Baek" Jongdae smirked as he patted him comfortably on the shoulder.

Then the boy who had been tending the children with the ice creams appeared on the scene. He stayed on the other side of the bar, but sat on one of the stools and leaned over the surface to get closer to Jongdae and Baekhyun.

"So he's the new one you were talking about, right?"

"Affirmative! Baek, this is Minseok; Minseok, this is Baekhyun"

"Nice to finally meet you, Baekhyun" Minseok held out his hand and he quickly took it, shaking both of their hands in a formal greeting "I have heard good things about you, so I am eager to see how you work"

"Seriously?" Baekhyun was surprised, just before looking at Jongdae "were you talking about me?"

"Well, Jongin and I have been bragging for a few days how our next waiter was very handsome, even more so than Minseok, you're going to attract a lot of people to come and eat here"

Baekhyun blushed before looking at Minseok, more handsome than him? The boy was well built, maybe that's why he was wearing a baggy tank top instead of one with sleeves like him; furthermore, his face was very pretty, his golde skin looked amazing with his black hair, and his eyes were mesmerizing. Kind of reminded Baekhyun to a cat, but he doesn’t know why.

"Oh, I hope I won't be fired so soon" Minseok touched the area of his heart with the palm of his hand, feigning a sound of pain that came from deep in his throat. He was funny.

"We'll see about that" Jongdae joked, and the three of them laughed. The atmosphere was a little lighter now.

Minseok and Baekhyun talked for a bit, the basic questions _"full name, where are you from, how old are you and do you have some experience working as a waiter"_ Baekhyun's answers were open, because he did not know how much information he could share with Minseok, or how confident the relationship he had with Jongin and Jongdae was. They definitely didn't talk about anything much beyond work.

At around 12 noon, with everyone crowded on the beach, there was hardly anything to do. Jongdae told them he should pick up some boxes with food for the bar, and left Minseok in charge.

_"Please, don’t get the bar on fire”_

That was the only order he gave before walking out the door and leaving them alone, Minseok didn't even react; maybe it was a normal.

So now it was just the two of them, with the restaurant completely empty, while they prepared some sandwiches for lunch. The place was not a restaurant, far from it, but they served some light food to accompany the juices or the ice creams. The atmosphere was a bit more awkward, but Baekhyun tried not to be embarrassed by the other's presence.

"Well then, what are you exactly?" Minseok asked that without even looking at his face, concentrating on peeling a couple of fruits. Baekhyun jumped up, worried, what was it? in what sense? Did he have to say any nationality?

"Um, I- uh... Korean?"

"No, silly" Minseok laughed, looking away from the fruit to focus on Baekhyun, who had turned even paler than he normally was. “I mean what kind of creature, Jongin and Dae would not hire a normal human; and buddy, let me tell you, you smell like fresh sardines"

"Me what?"

"You are a mermaid, right?"

Baekhyun didn't even know what to say, how did a human like Minseok know of his existence? Were there more like them? Mermaids were something of public knowledge? It was impossible-

"Dude, you should see your face right now, you look so surprised" Minseok started to laugh, putting aside the knife with the fruit, because it really was dangerous to have a laughing fit with a gun in hand; "They didn't tell you? Come on, calm down”

Minseok closed his eyes and shook his head, brushing his hair. Baekhyun was confused, not knowing exactly what the boy was doing, until he suddenly stopped and- were those ears? Wait, and that in the back... Was that a tail?

“I thought Dae or Jongin would have told you, but I'm a cat hybrid; we are all magical creatures, just like mermaids, you would really be surprised how many of us are around”

"Are there many... cat hybrids in the area?" Baekhyun was frozen, his mouth slightly open and his eyes fixed on his co-worker's new ears.

“Not just hybrids, many more things… Vampires, werewolves, witches, centaurs, fairies; anything you can imagine, there is!" Baekhyun still couldn't believe it. During all his years in the castle, his parents had assured him that mermaids were the only magical being that existed, was this all a lie?

"Are you telling me... aren't there just humans and mermaids here?"

"Oh, my friend, you have so much to learn" Minseok shook his head, still with an amused expression "I guess I should say welcome to dry-land, where things are not as they seem"

━━✧♛✧━━

Every time Baekhyun felt that the initial shock had passed, he would lift his head and see Minseok's cat ears; And god, he was back to the initial shock. How could they tell him that mermaids were the only magical beings? When, in reality, there were many more species besides them. Was it popular knowledge? Was meeting other species normal?

"Your head is practically fuming" Minseok laughed as he wagged his tail playfully "if you want answers you have me here, you can ask anything"

Baekhyun took a breath just before putting aside the fruit mess that he had made all this time while trying to prepare tropical juice.

"It's just a lot to take in" he shrugged "I always thought that mermaids and humans were the only ones, and I thought that the only beings with magic were mermaids who belonged to royalty, now... Now I don't even know what to think"

“I can't believe you didn't know that there were more people with powers, or more other than humans. Really, were you in the water your whole life or something? Because it is impossible that you would not know anything if you had lived here for a while "

Baekhyun lowered his head and slowly nodded.

"I arrived about a month ago, until then, I was under water all my life"

Minseok gasped, surprised "Are you serious? And how is the change? How did you get here? Isn't it weird to get out of the water?"

"I..." Baekhyun stopped talking, thinking a bit about all his questions; he didn't know if he should tell him the whole truth, but he figured giving Minseok some clues about himself wouldn't be wrong “It's weird to be out of the water, but it's not bad; I swam from the Antarctic in search of Jongin and Jongdae because I wanted, well, to see new things... My friend recommended that I come with them and I thank them very much for welcoming me into their home"

"Awww, that's so cute" Minseok put a hand on his chest, over his heart, staining his white shirt with colorful fruit juices "I met Jongdae at this bar, but at night; I just wanted to go out for a bit and ended up sucking his dick behind the counter; it was magical"

Oh, Jesus. Too much information.

"And how... how did you end up working here?"

“Well the next morning I came back here, Jongdae bought me a fruit shake and tried to talk to me, but there were a lot of customers. Suddenly he mentioned that with so many people they were going to need someone else to help, and well, I was here” he shrugged with a smile and went back to peeling fruits "I offered to help, that was maybe two years ago, and look at me now"

"Woah, years ago?"

"Yes, now I come every morning to do the shift with Jongdae, we work well together"

“And you are… Anything? I mean, with the way you guys met…"

Minseok looked at him with his cat eyes, the sharp pupil, and a fang peeking out between his smile “we are friends, but there are some disgusting details. Please don't be upset if one day you see much sucking him somewhere, Jongdae smells like tuna and sometimes he can’t help but want to eat him"

Baekhyun flinched. The bad way.

"Details are not necessary, but I appreciate your honesty"

Minseok laughed, and then went on to tell him the gross details. Great. Just great. The worst was when Jongdae returned and went into the kitchen to greet them; Minseok approached him, tangled his tail around Jongdae's leg, and whispered something in his ear; after that Jongdae's cheeks turned into at least five different shades of red. Right in front of Baekhyun.

He decided to ignore it for the sake of his sanity, there were already too many things to assimilate in a single day.

"Dae, can we talk for a moment?"

"Sure" the boy replied while Baekhyun took his hands away from the food and washed them for a moment, before following Jongdae to the bar office "what happened? Did Minseok say something to you? He has a very big mouth to speak-"

"It's not about Minseok, I just want to ask you..." Baekhyun was sitting on a chair, with his hands crossed on his lap and nervously playing with his fingers as if that would answer all his questions. "Is it true that there are many other creatures? I understand that Minseok is a… cat, or something like that, but he said there were many more species, right?"

Jongdae nodded “it's true, there are many other creatures. You didn’t know? If we had known that you had no idea that there were many more besides mermaids, I would have warned you before... Ah, you certainly lived your whole life locked up"

“Yes… Really, I was very surprised” he sighed as he dropped his hands on the armrests of the chair “and is it normal to see them? Do they live like humans?"

“Oh yes, it is very normal” Jongdae laughed “we could be even more in number than humans, but they are still dangerous, so we stay away from humans as much as we can. However, there are places where many species gather and we can be ourselves for a while"

"Seriously?! What kind of places?" Baekhyun was a curious person, he always had been, but he had been taught to hold back. Now, however, he has no limits.

"Well Baek, you're in one of them" Jongdae spread his arms to point to the walls of his small office.

Baekhyun was confused.

"I was going to let Jongin show you, because that only happens during his shift, but maybe it helps to tell you now..." Jongdae cleared his throat and got up from his seat, starting to circle around his office as he walked slowly, trying to create a bit of tension simply because he was amused to see Baekhyun's anxious expression.

“For a long time, this city had no place for magical creatures to gather, so we decided to change the bar schedule; just a little bit” he winked playfully as he brought his index finger and thumb closer to emphasize the word _little_. “In the morning and at noon, when Minseok and I attend the bar, the humans will come; from 8, in the evening, the doors of the bar are closed and can only be opened by creatures of other species. We managed to do this with a little magic from a group of fairies who helped us a lot, humans are not drawn to the bar after the sun goes down, while magical creatures will"

"And what happens when creatures of other species come?"

“Well, they are welcomed here! We are still a bar, you know, we serve them food, ice cream, smoothies, a drink; whatever they want. And the best of all, is that as soon as they enter they know that they are in a safe place and are invited to change to their real forms and put aside their human camouflage "Jongdae spoke very proud of the bar, almost emotional "Jongin attends the bar from 8 to 12, sometimes even longer, it depends on how fun the night is. Generally, I also come down to have a drink, and I'm sure you'll like it too, you'll see"

Baekhyun was totally stunned. Actually, it was almost too much information to process in a couple of minutes. So, mermaids weren't the only non-humans in the world; in fact, there were many species and some of them had magic, great! And then Jongdae and Jongin ran the magic pub in town. The whole situation sounded very entertaining.

"Any other question? We can't stay here much longer, Minseok will complain that we're just lounging around while he makes all the smoothies"

"Just one more" Baekhyun asked and Jongdae nodded.

"Shoot the question"

"Do you really let Minseok suck you behind the bar?" Baekhyun laughed, his cheeks red, as Jongdae covered his face with both hands and moaned in embarrassment. Baekhyun laughed more. "Okay, you don't have to answer, I already know"

He rose from the chair as Jongdae watched him, his fingers slightly spreading so he could see between his hands.

"No more questions about sucking behind the bar, or I'm really going to fire you, and it’s just your first day!"

"Got you, Captain!" Baekhyun gave a little military salute just before approaching the door "then I'm going to get back to work before someone gets mad about the smoothies" and he left Jongdae inside the office as he walked out of there with a much more relaxed expression, looking forward to tonight.

The rest of the day was interesting, to describe it in some way. Baekhyun served customers at lunch with a smile, served ice cream to all the children who came running from the beach, swept the sand and let Minseok take care of scrubbing up the water left by people who brought their swimsuits or bags wet. Overall, it was a nice day, he couldn't complain.

Minseok was a very entertaining and funny person. He was constantly by Baekhyun's side throughout this first shift, helping him with the ice cream machine, with the mixer, with the cash register... And even in his spare time, he helped Baekhyun set up his phone and taught him to use some applications. The cat even shared his number with Baekhyun, assuring him that he could send him a message whenever he wanted. Minseo was a bit chaotic, but Baekhyun liked him.

Jongdae, however, was a bit more reserved at work; he went into boss mode, almost locking himself in his office and kitchen: tracking inventory, calling, ordering more boxes of fruit, checking menus... Baekhyun could see how hard he was working, so he really wanted to do a good job and help in everything possible. He felt that both Jongin and Jongdae had done so much for him and this was their only way of giving it back.

Baekhyun and Minseok were sweeping the floor and cleaning the tables when Jongin walked through the front door, it was 7 o'clock, time to start the night shift.

"See you tomorrow!" Minseok said goodbye to everyone after collecting their things and closing the bar, then, only Jongdae, Jongin and Baekhyun were left inside.

The three of them sat at one of the tables and there was a flurry of questions from Jongin, who wanted to know all the details of Baekhyun's first day at work. It was kind of adorable.

"How was the day? Did Jongdae treat you well? You know, if he's not a good boss, you can change your schedule and work nights with me; and what about Minseok? Do you like him? Did he help you? Was there any problem?" Baekhyun laughed and Jongdae slapped his forehead with his hand, rolling his eyes; Jongin was just exaggerating.

“Well… It was good, I had fun today, Minseok says some very strange things but I think we get along well. He helped me a lot, Jongdae was nice too; talking to everyone is a lot of fun"

"Did Minseok tell you that he sucked Jongdae behind the bar?"

"Yes! How do you know?"

"Oh, everyone knows, it was the first thing Minseok told me during his job interview"

"Oh, my God!" Jongdae hit the table with his head, his cheeks red, and his head practically fuming with embarrassment. He couldn't believe that at some point he had been with someone with such a long tongue. Literally. Jongin and Baekhyun just laughed at him.

After a few minutes talking and updating Jongin on everything that had happened during the day, he was ready to reopen the bar to the “public”.

"Baek, they explained to you what kind of customers are coming at this hour, right?" Baekhyun nodded, a little excited.

"Yeah, and I'd actually like to stay a bit longer, can I?"

"Of course" Jongin nodded quickly "I would really appreciate having some extra hands during the shift, although I know you worked a lot today... You can leave whenever you want, just let me know first and you can go back home"

Then they both said goodbye to Jongdae, who promised to leave some dinner leftovers for them; he also wished Baekhyun good luck on his first night before heading out the door.

Soon after, Jongin went outside to hang a little sign on the door; "Open to non-humans, you are all invited to come in" and Baekhyun gasped because, wasn't that very obvious? Wouldn't that kind of poster attract humans? Wouldn't people then realize that the bar was full of magical creatures? When he asked Jongin those questions he just smiled proudly.

“The bar is haunted, after seven, humans don't even notice us. I don't know how to explain it exactly, but it like... They ignore us, we are here, but they will not notice us, and even if they do, their brain will ignore what they saw here because we are not important to them"

"And the magical- creatures?"

"They are not affected by that magic, it is made only for humans. Sehun, a friend, is a fairy and he helped us enchant the whole building; he comes almost every night, so he'll probably show up around here at some point, if you ask him he might explain all of this much better"

Then, little by little, the bar filled with people. Baekhyun saw them outside the door as humans, and then enter as totally different things; so, this is what Jongdae meant that in the bar each person could be "themself". That night, he saw things that he thought could only live in the deepest part of his imagination, but here they are, being very real. He saw normal humans turn into animals, he saw dragons, oh god, he even saw a group of vampires toasting a shady procedural cocktail in the corner of the bar.

He also saw mermaids, lots of them, which made sense since they were literally in an area next to the beach. He talked to them and some even gave him their number, great, he was making so many friends! However, he was a little sad that that fairy, Sehun? That Jongin had mentioned didn’t appear yet. And it was almost eleven o’clock.

Perhaps, Baekhyun was thinking too fast.

"Good night people!"

Someone very flamboyant came into the bar screaming, and everyone turned to him to greet him as if he were the lifelong friend of each of the people who were in the bar at the time. That whole person was… incredibly colorful, from his rainbow-colored hair, to his clothes, wearing different and colorful patterns from head to toe. He definitely attracted a lot of attention.

"Sehun!" Jongin greeted him as he sat directly at the bar, just before Jongin himself served him some weird neon-colored cocktail. So he was Sehun, "you're very late today, did something happen?"

"Oh no, I just heard you had new staff from Minseok and wanted to make a good impression, where is he?"

Jongin pointed to the side, right where Baekhyun was staring straight at them with his mouth slightly open in amazement. He had never seen anyone like Sehun, he was… shining. Baekh didn't know if it was because he was a fairy, because of the magic, or because of the sequins on his shirt but, god, he was probably the coolest person he'd ever met. After Jongdae.

"Hello" Baekhyun muttered as he slowly approached, Sehun smiled at him.

"You are so cute, just like Minseok described you"

"And you are shining"

Sehun laughed “It's just my magic aura, it comes out in places like these where they basically force you to use your most primitive form. You shouldn't be able to see it, unless you have magic"

Baekhyun blushed, until now, no one had realized that he was a magical being; they just assumed he was a normal mermaid "I... I can use magic, yes"

“But what do we have here…” Sehun put aside his half-finished cocktail of colors to get off the bar and be (more or less) at the height of Baekhyun “such a cute boy, and in addition to royalty; how did even Jongin and Jongdae find you? "

"Long story"

Sehun winked at him "we have all night, sweetie"

They ended up sitting together at a table with several different but very pretty colors drinks; Baekhyun didn't even know what they were, but they were so conspicuous that he couldn't even think of rejecting Sehun. Jongin let him go talk to him, after all Baekhyun could decide the time to finish his shift that night. The younger brother adviced him to be careful, but to have fun.

"So tell me dear... how did a pretty prince like you end up here?" Sehun asked Baekhyun at the same time that he prepared a drink for him, pouring it shortly after.

"I just wanted to see new horizons..." Baekhyun was doubtful, should he tell this person the truth? Yes, Jongin said he was their friend, but did they trust him? He took the glass with one hand and moved it a little, watching how the pretty colors mixed with each other.

“I don't believe you, pretty” Sehun drank directly from the bottle, taking a sip of an orange liquid “you know, mermaids are a very strange species; not all of them selfish, but many mermaids think they are too much simply because they have power in the sea. They wouldn’t let a child as beautiful as you, especially if you have magic, get out of there so easily”

Baekhyun gulped and brought the glass to his mouth, sipping a little. Oh. It was delicious.

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because you are the first mermaid I know who can use magic" Sehun continued drinking, this time, from a bottle of a quite striking greenish color "you know how to use magic, right? Someone must have taught you"

"I know how to use my magic" Baekhyun nodded "at least I think so, all mermaids have very specific powers... In my kingdom, the Byun clan knows how to use light magic, and that's what I've always been learning"

"The Byun clan?" Baekhyun nodded "Antarctic ocean, huh?"

"How do you know?"

"I am a very wise person!" Sehun drank again, this time, the bottle was a very deep blue color. Baekhyun took another sip from his glass. "I really am, boy, maybe you see me and I don't look like it, but I'm many, many years older than you," he laughed, covering his mouth with his hand, just before continuing to drink from that blue bottle.

"How old are you?" Baekhyun asked, curious, who exactly is this person? He rested his arms on the table, looking directly into the other boy's eyes, just before Sehun did the exact same thing.

"Tell me, dear, how much do you know about magical creatures?"

Baekhyun blushed. Nothing.

"Today I discovered that they existed"

"Damn mermaids, how can they hide us from their pretty prince?" Sehun banged his head against the table in a very dramatic way, repeatedly denying “look, Baekhyun, right? I'll tell you everything, but first I want to know the real reason why you are here"

"Why would I tell you? Why don't you just explain your part to me? What do you gain by knowing my story?"

"Oh, I'm just curious" Sehun raised one of his arms and brought his hand to Baekhyun's face, pulling his cheek without much care "so many years wandering the world, anything surprises me anymore; so surprise me and I'll tell you everything you want to know"

Sehun handed the bottle to Baekhyun, looking at him with a half smile. The glow around him grew more intense.

"Deal, prince?"

Baekhyun sighed, raised his glass, and carefully tapped it against the fairy bottle.

"It’s a deal"

And then, they both drank.

They talked and drank all night, until only the two of them were left at the bar and Jongin told them he was about to close. It must have been around one or two in the morning, and the conversation had lasted about 4 hours already. Baekhyun drank and talked; he talked a lot, and drank maybe even more. At the end of the night, Sehun knew basically everything that had happened in the castle since Baekhyun can remember, until he decided to escape before his wedding. He told him about magic, taught him some "tricks" with light, how to change the color of the bar lights to make everything more beautiful _"like the bottle"_ and threw several water bubbles that exploded in color while both laughed at the most absurd things and talked shit about Baekhyun's parents.

It was a great night! Sadly, even good things have to come to an end.

"Baek, let's go upstairs" Jongin held him while rubbing his back, helping him stay upright while he just laughed at anything.

"I can’t not go! Sehun promised -hic- to tell me the secrets… of the universe"

Jongin looked at Sehun with a raised eyebrow and he just shrugged with laughter.

"Easy, Baek, I'll tell you about it… But not today, we'll see you tomorrow, or later, do you work here? I will come to see you, pretty prince"

Baekhyun agreed and then, more calmly, they closed the bar and returned home. Jongdae was waiting for them, heating up dinner and just laughed when he saw Baekhyun's drunk state.

"How did he end up like this?"

"Oh, Sehun took him to talk and they drank a lot, he promised to tell Baekhyun the secrets of the universe or something, really..." Jongin sighed as he ate some of the reheated dinner, while Baekhyun practically dozed on the plate of food "I think that they are friends, or something like that, I'm glad he's adjusting well... Even if it's drinking with the clients"

"He also gets along with Minseok" Jongdae said a little proud while serving water to a quite drunk Baekhyun "in general I think he will be fine, and it will be good to have him around the bar... lately he seems happier"

"I'm happy" Baekhyun mumbled as he drank his glass of water, although he didn't think he was able to eat since everything was spinning. When he finished drinking he covered his mouth with his hands and chuckled "oh wow, it’s been so long since I said that-"

Jongdae and Jongin smiled at him, "Are you really?"

Baekhyun nodded "I’m really happy!"

And then, he fell asleep with his nose partially buried under the water. Good thing his body still allowed him to breathe through it. The brothers looked at each other, shrugging, and finished dinner on their own before dragging a sleeping Baekhyun into his room.

“You ended up getting fond of him…” Jongdae muttered under his breath, wanting only Jongin to hear him. He rolled his eyes, closing the door to Baekhyun's room.

"It's inevitable, you can’t just… Not appreciate him, he's a good person"

"Well, I get it" Jongdae nodded "you know, the other day we were talking about sending Kyungsoo a letter, do you think it's possible that Baekhyun can send him something?"

“Well, I don't know… Maybe? It scares me that they are tracking the things that enter the castle, even if Kyungsoo didn’t mention anything of that in his letter, he cannot know everything about the kings, and definitely we can’t be cautious enough in this situation" Jongin sighed as he looked at the ground, narrowing his eyes "I don't want they reaching us, I don't want them taking Baekhyun back, they could even try to hurt Kyungsoo”

"Yes, I understand" Jongdae rubbed one of his shoulders, "but you can't just stop sending Kyungsoo letters, you always do, and the letter he sent had no trouble getting through, maybe you should try?"

"I'll think about it, but I don't promise anything"

"As you wish" Jongdae came over to hug him, short and strong "now sleep, tomorrow I am not going to wake up Baekhyun, he probably prefers the night shift anyways"

Jongin nodded several times and then they both started walking down the hall to their rooms.

"Good night, Dae"

"Good night, rest a lot"

━━✧♛✧━━

For the next couple of weeks, Baekhyun went to work the night shift with Jongin every day. Most of the time Sehun would appear around midnight, every day with different but equally striking outfit: sequins, patterns, neon colors... Anything that Baekhyun could imagine, no matter how strange it sounded, Sehun would probably pull that off. And, just in case, Baekhyun never drank again as the first day.

Sehun sat at the bar and Baekhyun was in charge of preparing drinks so that he could talk with the fairy quietly, while the rest of the people danced or chatted around the dining room area; at the bar area everything was calmer, just them talking and from time to time someone coming to order drinks or Jongin checking that both were okay.

They had many hours to talk, hours that basically became Sehun teaching and explaining everything that was necessary about the magical world: from its creation, to the present, the rules, the species, everything... It seemed that he even knew more about mermaids than Baekhyun himself, which was downright impressive.

Sehun told him that fairies had been the first magical beings, and they were, in short, the ones responsibles for everyone else's existence. Many, many years ago, it was normal for fairies and humans to coexist in the world without hiding from each other; but the fairies began to abuse their magic, and when the humans felt threatened they started to attack back.

All species are born from the rivalry between humans and fairies.

The first mermaid was a fairy exiled to live in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, right in the middle of the Bermuda triangle; so, she made sure to make that place look haunted. If sailors or ships passed through that area, she would enchant them and turn all sailors into mermans and mermaids, until there was enough people living under the sea to be considered a new specie.

That first mermaid, the turned fairy, had five childs with different sailos, a new generation of mermaids who inherited her powers. She baptized them with the names of the oceans, Atlantic, Arctic, Antarctic, Pacific and Indian, and then took them all around the sea to continue with his plan to enchant sailors and expand the new specie.

Eventually, their children were left in the seas their own mother had assigned them, and the sailors were free to decide which one they wanted to live in. But that was years, many, many years ago. The fairy's children had had their own children, and these, their own children; all the way to Baekhyun. That was the reason that the royal families carried magic in their veins, because they were descendants of the first mermaid, while the others were simply descendants of the poor sailors who had been dragged into that life under the sea.

Sehun told him, too, that there were many mermaids who probably had some powers, but they didn't know it because they were bastard children of the crown. Baekhyun shuddered thinking about the reality of the mermaids, and how his parents had twisted the story, because Sehun's version was much more sinister than the one that actually circulated under the water of "its origin".

For the other species Sehun explained it in the simplest possible way: witches are "corrupt" fairies who do not want to be related to each other; vampires and other creatures that fall into the category of undead are magical creatures whose blood has been drained by someone, either by means of a spell, or by means of another vampire who wants to convert him to his species. All hybrids, in general, are humans turned into animals, or animals turned into humans; these types of spells are not used so much lately, but all species can reproduce with each other to create more hybrids, which is why they are very common to see nowadays.

Basically, everything around the species was created with magic, therefore, even though some of those species cannot use magic or have supernatural powers, they are still considered magical beings.

All this conversation was carried on while Sehun got drunk on his colorful drinks over the course of several weeks. It was a long conversation, in which many things were thoroughly explained, and Baekhyun was grateful for all the new information, even though at the moment it was something a bit difficult to assimilate.

"Enough" Sehun said one night, finishing the glass that was previously filled with a fluorescent blue liquid. The fairy put a couple of bills on the table, before getting up almost stumbling. It was barely 11 PM, and he was already totally drunk.

“How is it enough? Where are you going?"

“Your life wasn’t interesting enough for me to tell you all the juicy details of the fairies, pretty prince, at least not for now. Maybe later. Maybe…” he looked around as he tucked his sequined fur jacket tightly over his shoulders. "I'll be back, maybe not tomorrow, but another day..."

"Wait! What do you mean? It's over?"

"Yes, I think your history lesson was enough..."

“No, no, no, where do fairies come from? How did they get here? Why was the first mermaid banished to the sea?"

“Those are stories for another day! Now I have to go, I don't feel like being here, I shouldn't have come..." Sehun approached the bar again, leaving another bill and taking a whole bottle for himself "Be careful, pretty prince, something is going to happen, I can feel it, there’s magic getting near the city…”

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know yet, but something is going to happen, I’m getting chills"

And then Sehun left the bar, just as mysterious as when he entered. Baekhyun decided not to give it much more importance, after all, the guy didn't seem entirely sane. He sighed, put the money he had left in the cash register, and decided to completely ignore this strange conversation.

The following days he continued with the night shift, bit since there weren’t signs of Sehun coming back, he decided to return to the day shift; at least he had Minseok there.

Life went on exactly like the few weeks before. Now, he has been living with Jongin and Jongdae for almost three months. Baekhyun was happy, and these three months had been one of the best moments of his life, he just hoped it would continue like this for a long time. However, he felt that something was missing; he missed Kyungsoo more than anything in the world, constantly thinking about what his parents were up to or how the kingdom was doing, and even wondering how Chanyeol was doing. Was he back in the Pacific Ocean? Would his parents allow him to have the Antarctic crown? Chanyeol… does he miss Baekhyun? He felt selfish thinking about the prince, but couldn’t help it from time to time.

Jongin and Baekhyun even had the courage to each write a letter to Kyungsoo and send it, because they both missed him, and they were sure Kyungsoo missed them too.

It was then, during a quiet morning in late summer, that Baekhyun thought "Sehun was right". Holy shit, the fairy was right.

He was washing the dishes in the kitchen of the bar when he suddenly heard the noise of the door, at this time hardly anybody used to get in, so he quickly left the kitchen with a smile, while saying a soft "hello" to the new customer. Then, he turned to the door.

And here they are, Chanyeol and Kyunsoo, looking directly at him. His jaw dropped, surprised, thinking that maybe it was just him being crazy. Then Minseok came out of the kitchen.

“Uh- good morning, do you need any help? You can choose any table you want"

"It is not necessary" Kyungsoo said, taking a couple of steps forward "we aren’t here to have a drink"

Baekhyun gulped. Good.


	3. Indian

The three of them were sitting at one of the tables in the back, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Baekhyun; Minseok had noticed the tension in the air and the "smell of fish" as he called it, so he decided to simply leave the scene and go into the kitchen to continue preparing the necessary ingredients for lunch. Intelligent.

"Hmm..." Baekhyun muttered as he shrugged in his seat, turning small at the gaze of both boys on him; at the same time, he had begun to play with the hem of his shirt, stretching and crumpling it, hoping that would help calm his nerves. Spoiler, it didn't, but it was better than just having his hands loose “not that I'm upset to see you, either of you, but… What are you doing here? Did something happen? "

"Chanyeol insisted on coming" Kyungsoo said while squinting at the prince "he was very insistent, so I had to take him here"

“Hey, you didn't put up much resistance either! Yes, I wanted to come, but it didn't take you long to agree and tell me where he was… "Chanyeol complained, crossing his arms “you even decided to come with me"

"Of course I came with you, I can’t have to princes lost around the ocean”

"But I wouldn't get lost"

"You don't know that, stupid-"

"What did you call me?"

"Ugh, stupid-"

"Wait, wait, wait" Baekhyun stopped them quickly, holding each other's shoulders "do the kings know that you are here? Do the kings know where we are? Is the royal guard coming here?"

“Oh, of course not” Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and sighed “I wouldn't let the royal guard or the kings find out about this place… It's just me and the prince, don't worry; we came after receiving your letter, Chanyeol got excited because I knew where you were and since then he insisted on wanting to come"

Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol, and he blushed; cute.

"Did you want to see me?" Baekhyun smiled a little, his heart pounding against his chest.

"Yes, I... I wanted to make sure you were okay, and apologize."

"Apologize? I'm the one who should apologize, my god, I literally stood you up on our wedding day” Baekhyun quickly covered his mouth, panting “it sounds so much worse when I say it, I really stood you up on our wedding day… God, Chanyeol, I’m so sorry"

"Not! No, it's okay" Chanyeol stopped him, holding Baekhyun hands between his "Kyungsoo explained everything to me... I should have insisted more with your parents, it was too much pressure, even for me"

"Oh god I'm so relieved, I was afraid you would hate me now" Baekhyun sighed, squeezing Chanyeol's hands that were holding his. Then, they looked at each other with a smile, and time almost stopped at that moment “and… So how did you get here? How is the castle? Tell me everything"

"It's a long story, do you have time?"

"Yes, I have time..." Baekhyun kept his smile, tilting his head a little while keeping his gaze fixed on Chanyeol's dark eyes.

"No, you don't have time!" Minseok yelled from the kitchen, “we open for lunch in 20 minutes, and if Jongdae isn't there, I'm the boss! So move your ass to the kitchen and start peeling peaches for the smoothies, or we're screwed"

Baekhyun blushed and quickly let go of Chanyeol's hands, glancing at the kitchen.

"Well, um- I have to work, but I can see you later?”

"Yes… Yes, of course, see you later" Chanyeol nodded a couple of times before looking at Kyungsoo, who nodded as well.

"I'm going to see Jongin and Jongdae, are they upstairs?" Kyungsoo got up from the chair and then both Baekhyun and Chanyeol followed his action.

"Yes, they're upstairs... I'll go as soon as my shift is over, maybe in an hour or less" Baekhyun approached, taking Kyungsoo's hands.

Kyungsoo smiled and released his hands to spread his arms; soon, Baekhyun was buried in a bear hug "you too, I hope you tell me everything that has happened lately, I missed you so much"

When they broke away from the hug, Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol. Should he hug him too? He wanted to, but was it appropriate? Now that they weren't engaged, they were just simply acquaintances.

As Baekhyun struggled, Chanyeol stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug. Baekhyun closed his eyes and hugged him back, burying his head in his chest. It ended up being a quite long, but it felt good to know that Chanyeol didn't hate him after months of not hearing from each other.

"18 minutes, and the smoothies aren't even in the blender!" A shout was heard from the kitchen and Baekhyun and Chanyeol separated with nervous laughter.

"Duty calls me, I guess... See you later"

"Yes, see you later" they said goodbye waving their hands until both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo step out of the bar. Baekhyun stared at the entry door for a couple of seconds, almost hypnotized, until the weight of reality fell on his shoulders and he decided it was time to go back to work.

He walked into the kitchen and came in with the plan of simply making the smoothies, but found these perfectly prepared and chilling in one of the freezers.

"What?" Baekhyun arched an eyebrow and then turned to Minseok, who was staring at him with those feline eyes narrowed, his ears lowered, and his tail moving slowly behind him.

“No smoothies, this is more interesting, who were those cuties? Oh god, the tall boy smelled so good, smoked salmon, I was about to try to bite him"

"Min!" Baekhyun laughed as the hybrid approached him to hold his arms, a sly smile adorning his expression "they are... they are just friends"

“Friends don't give each other awkward hugs! Tell me, tell me, who are they? "

"Well, the short one..."

"He smells like yellow fin tuna" Minseok mentioned, licking his lips.

"That's strangely specific" he rolled his eyes while sighing "they are two old friends, from the kingdom... I didn't even know they were coming, they really took me by surprise"

“Just two friends? How boring…"

“Well Kyungsoo- the boy with the smell of yellow fin tuna, he's kind of like Jongin's boyfriend- his crush, or something like that, they have a strange relationship. They send letters to each other"

"How romantic" Minseok closed his eyes as he sighed loudly, just before releasing Baekhyun, turning to the prep table where they had the fruit for the other smoothies, and the bread with which they prepared the sandwiches for lunch. “What about smoked salmon dude?”

"Chanyeol... He, well, I know him less than Kyungsoo so I don't know exactly what to say" Baekhyun lowered his head, blushing, as he began to assemble sandwiches.

"Let it go, come on" Minseok looked at him incriminatingly, analyzing every little movement "you hugged him for an uncomfortably long time, and you are blushing; I'm not an idiot, you know"

“Well he and I had… something, before I left” he put a couple of sandwiches aside and then went to check the smoothies in the freezer, just to feel the cold air against his cheeks “I liked him, he liked me… I think. But I probably screw up everything"

"Oh, come on, it can't be that bad, what big thing did you do to believe it's all over? I'm sure you're just exaggerating"

"I kissed him just before I left the kingdom, the night before, and I just left him a note saying I'm sorry I left without saying goodbye to him"

"Well that's it ... I don't think he can hate you for that, you probably had your reasons”

"And maybe I just left him standing at the altar because I escaped the night before our wedding" Bakehyun said quickly, just before covering his face with his hands, embarrassed. He had really done that, it’s impossible that he has a chance to even be his friend now. Oh God.

"You did what?" Minseok gasped, “and you never told me you gave up a guy like that at your wedding? Were you ever going to get married? What the hell, and I thought you were a virgin!"

"I-" Baekhyun continued to cover his face, in the middle of shame "I'm a virgin, Minseok... Chanyeol and I didn't really plan our wedding, just- my parents organized it, between us, I hardly know him at all, and then… I ran away before we got married because I was very scared, but I don't think he's a bad person, do you understand? I just... I was scared, I don’t think I was ready to get married"

"I can't believe you never told me that" Minseok approached him, indignant; "what exactly happened?"

"Do you prefer the long version or a summary?"

Minseok looked at the kitchen clock. 4 minutes before they opened for lunch.

“Right now, a summary; I'll have time to get you drunk one day so you can tell me the long version with all the obscene details"

Baekhyun sighed as he uncovered his face, before telling him about his "wedding" with Chanyeol. Very fast: arranged marriage, his parents being - as always- controllers, his short (but still valid) love-friendship story with Chanyeol, the conversation with Kyungsoo and the decision to leave the castle the night before the wedding.

"Fuck me, are you a prince?"

"It's been 3 months since I left the castle, I probably can't even be considered royalty anymore"

“Anyways, that's so crazy! Fuck your parents, and what a fucking situation; oh wow buddy-" Minseok held his own waist with his hands "you are sure a bit screwed with Mr Smoked Salmon, but I support you, I guess- he should understand the situation, have a little faith, he didn't seem to hate you when you were talking before"

"So you think he doesn't hate me?"

"I don't think so" he patted Baekhyun on the shoulder "don't worry, talk to him when the shift is over and everything will be fine"

"I hope so" Baekhyun sighed and soon the clock struck one o'clock. He put his best smile on his face and then they both went out to open the bar for lunch. Among so many people, " _clean this" "bring me this" "this is not tasty" "I wanted the steak more done" "I said without mayonnaise_ ", Baekhyun did not even have time to think about himself, concentrating on running from one place to another , alternating between preparing sandwiches, serving drinks and entertaining customers who were waiting impatiently for their food.

At half past two the bar was finally empty; at this time, people had already returned to the beach to try to get the last rays of noon and achieve that tan they wanted so much. Right now, he and Minseok would put all the dishes in the dishwasher, clean the kitchen, and take out the trash with the leftovers, just before preparing food for themselves.

This time, Minseok decided to be more forgiving.

"Here" the hybrid handed a bag to Baekhyun and he took it and looked inside: a freshly made sandwich, a box probably full of potato chips and some orange juice.

"What is this?"

"Well, it's for you, silly" Minseok rolled his eyes "you can go, I will finish the shift today; I don't want to see you near the bar again until tomorrow at least” he gave Baekhyun an elbow in the side, and then a wink “come on, go before I change my mind and make you do the dishes with me; you have Mr Smoked Salmon upstairs all alone"

"So I can go?"

"Yes, now go" Minseok pointed to the door and then waved goodbye, "you owe me a big one, Baek!"

"Oh, I owe you like ten, thank you very much!" Baekhyun jumped up with his bag of food, before running to the door. When he opened it, he heard Minseok calling him.

"Before you go, some advice... Breathe through your nose, don't use your teeth, and swallow it quickly so as not to notice the taste-"

"Oh God! You are a weirdo” Baekhyun blushed, putting the bag of food against his chest before quickly closing the door, leaving Minseok laughing near the kitchen. Fool.

Baekhyun climbed upstairs from the back stairs quickly, so fast that he almost dropped his keys when he opened the door; he was excited, he wanted to talk to Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, he wanted to tell them everything he had done in the last three months, and he was eager to know how they had been. But before doing anything else, he wanted to properly apologize to Chanyeol; even though the prince told him that he was fine, Baekhyun still felt that it had been selfish of him. It's not like he regrets leaving, he just wishes the circumstances were different, because he probably gave him a lot of problems.

Baekhyun walked through the door, put the keys on the table of the entry way, left his shoes lying on the side of the shoe rack, and ran to the kitchen. There he found the four of them sitting around the breakfast table, talking quietly.

Baekhyun was watching his family sitting there, and he couldn't help feeling his chest getting warm.

"Baek!" Jongdae greeted him and everyone turned their heads at the same time towards the door frame, where Baekhyun was poking his head out. He just smiled and waved as he received greetings in various different tones from the other three.

"Minseok says he can take care of the rest of the shift, is it okay if I take the rest of the day off?"

"Sure" Jongin and Jongdae nodded "actually, it's fine if you take a couple of days off... The bar is going to be fine, this is a special occasion”

"Thank you!" Baekhyun smiled at them while hugging the hot food bag to his chest; he couldn't wait to spend some free time with Kyungsoo and Chanyeol.

They made room for him at the table and he began to eat, the others had already finished their lunch, so Baekhyun just ate quite quietly and listened to the rest speak.

First, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo told him how they decided to come "to pay a visit": apparently, Chanyeol had intercepted the letter that both Jongin and Baekhyun had sent to Kyungsoo a couple of weeks ago, as he happened to meet the fish that was swimming "with a foreign object in his mouth" and decided to check what was it about. Kyungsoo assured that the location of Baekhyun is totally secret and in the palace they don’t even think that he could have left the sea, so the location of the former prince is totally safe. Even Chanyeol didn't know what it was until he intercepted Kyungsoo and basically demanded answers from him.

"The castle is a mess since you left, the kings are really trying to look for you because they refuse to simply crown Chanyeol" Kyungsoo shrugged "they continue with the excuses… They say they don’t want to crown a future king without him having married because that would make the inhabitants upset, but the people are already upset since you left”

"So if I don't come back, Chanyeol will end up being crowned as the King?" Baekhyun spoke still chewing on his food, before Kyungsoo gave him a light kick from under the table "uh- why was that?"

"Even if you are not exercising your princely duties, you should show politeness at the table" Baekhyun just swallowed the juice and then held out his tongue, which earned him another kick. Valid. “But yeah, if you don't come back, your parents will be forced to crown only Chanyeol; unless they somehow manage to make the mess even bigger”

"I thought my parents liked you," Baekhyun muttered as he looked at Chanyeol. He shrugged.

"I suppose they thought you would be the king and in command, not me"

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms “the only thing they care about is the bloodline, not the people; if they cared about the survival of the kingdom, they would have already crowned Chanyeol"

“Wait, I don't understand” Jongin stopped him, confusion was visible on his face “why would they crown Chanyeol? Is that easy?"

“It's really simple” Kyungsoo sighed “actually, all royal families come from the same mermaid, so any mermaid with magic would be fit to lead the kingdom; in this way, the survival of the species is ensured; for example the Antarctic, whose inhabitants wouldn’t survive without the magic of the light. If the areas of the ocean that population centers are left without the heat and light provided by the magic of the kings, the inhabitants would be forced to migrate, because the depths are not made for the survival of the mermaids"

"And then why are they putting off crowning Chanyeol?"

"Because they are not interested in the survival of the species, they are only interested in the survival of the Byun clan"

Baekhyun lowered his head a bit, ah, he was really giving a lot of trouble in the kingdom. Kyungsoo saw him and quickly held one of his hands.

"I know what that look means... Don't you dare blame yourself when the problem is your parents"

"But I-"

"Not!" Kyungsoo hit the table with his free hand “you don't need to stay in the kingdom if that's not what you want, when there are many more possibilities; not when there are more people able to take your parent’s place. The most important thing is not who governs, but who does it well. They have no right to force you if it is not what you want"

“Kyungsoo is right” Chanyeol spoke in a calm tone, not wanting to alter the whole situation “right now, if the Byuns don't find another solution, my sister would have the last word on the matter. When our marriage was arranged, a pact of alliance between the Pacific and the Antarctic was signed; even if your parents fight to prevent the Park family from ruling their kingdom, when they die, there will be no one left from the Byun clan and the kingdom will be ruled by the Parks"

"What if my parents decide to break the agreement? What if they decide to cut ties with the Parks?"

"Then... There could be a war, my sister could attack them alleging their lack of loyalty and breach of the agreement they had"

"A war..." Baekhyun lowered his head further, clenching his fists "and what if I go back?"

"No, Baek" Kyungsoo denied, "remember what we talked about the day you left, are you happy here?"

"I... I, yes, I am happy"

"Then you should stay, don't worry about what happens in the kingdom, I'm sure everything will be fine there."

Baekhyun sighed “however, I don't know if I could bear the weight of a war on my shoulders; especially knowing that I had opportunities to avoid it. My parents are very stubborn, they will touch the edge as many times as possible until they get away with it; and this does not appear to be the case"

Chanyeol looked at him with a disgusted face, honestly, a war sounded like the worst possible option "I will try to do everything I can to avoid it, I will speak with the Byuns, with my sister... I am sure that we can all reach a peaceful solution"

"I hope so" Baekhyun muttered as he put the food aside, feeling that his hunger was gone completely. Soon the kitchen had been flooded with awkward silence, and it didn't seem like anyone wanted to do anything about it. He felt guilty for making the environment so heavy.

After a few moments under that crushing silence, Jongdae got up from his chair and hid his arms behind his back “uh, well, I'm going to the bar; Minseok may need help” and quickly left the room, practically escaped from there.

Jongin thought it was pretty smart.

"So, Soo… Didn't you say you wanted to go for a walk?"

"I don't-" Jongin looked at him, nodding towards the door, Kyungsoo quickly understood. "Oh, I get it! Yes, I would like it very much, can we go right now?"

“It is the best time to walk! At…” Jongin looked at the kitchen clock “3 PM, in the midday sun, just the way I like it”

And then they left too. God, they were terrible liars, but Baekhyun didn't blame them; he would do the same if he could.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol were left alone in the room, only with the sound of the clock to fill in the silence left by the lack of conversation. Chanyeol ended up playing with the edge of the tablecloth and Baekhyun nibbling on his sandwich again, which was already cold. Great, couldn't think of a better situation than this.

"Baek..." Chanyeol muttered after a while of silence in which Baekhyun finished his meal completely, the other only made a "hmm" sound to let him understand that he was listening, but did not answer anything else "do you want to talk about what happened?"

"Honestly, no” Baekhyun looked away, focusing on the kitchen wall “I was an idiot with you, I'm really sorry... But even if I could go back in time, I wouldn't change any of the decisions I made"

Chanyeol raised his head to look at him.

“I don't blame you, you know? At first I was angry, I mean… Everything was ready, I was ready to marry you, and suddenly you weren't there; I was not angry with you, I was angry with myself for not having seen it coming and being able to do something about it"

"Chanyeol, you couldn't do anything"

"Of course! I could have insisted on your parents to delay the wedding, make an effort to meet you sooner, anything..."

"Trust me, none of that would have changed what I did" Baekhyun leaned over the table a little, putting his hands on Chanyeol's, who was still nervously holding the edge of the tablecloth "listen to me, you couldn't do anything, so don’t blame yourself for my decisions, is that clear? "

Chanyeol denied, taking his hands too "but maybe-"

"No buts!" Baekhyun clenched his hands, looking into his eyes seriously “you were nice to me, I know you did your best, and you did well; but this goes beyond us, or our wedding… I never wanted to be king, I never wanted to reign, I never wanted to have powers; my parents never listened to me, and I think reality hit me when I met you. Suddenly, it was inevitable: we were going to get married, we were going to be crowned, we were going to have children… And I was thinking, do I really want that? Do I really want to end up like this?"

"Baek..." Chanyeol raised his eyebrows as Baekhyun bit his lip and lowered his head.

“I wasn't happy, Yeol… You would have made it nice, but I could never be happy living the castle all my life… I'm so sorry, I know it's selfish, I know I caused a lot of trouble, but now… now I'm really happy, I wake up in the morning with energy to keep going"

Chanyeol caressed his hands, he understood, he understood perfectly; "I'm glad you're happy" he nodded a couple of times while he felt the tears threatening to come out at any moment “and I hope you stay happy for a long time, Baek"

“You too… I hope you can be happy” Baekhyun got up from his seat to go over to hug him; he felt that they were the ones who understood each other best, since their situations had always been somewhat similar. He was really sorry to leave Chanyeol facing this situation by himself "I'm so sorry, Yeol"

"It's okay... everyone should seek their own happiness" Chanyeol hugged him back while lowering his head a little so that his chin was just resting on Baekhyun's head "you did what you had to do, I'll have to do something too... I really don't know what's going to happen from now on"

"I just hope everything goes well" Baekhyun sighed "and if necessary, if my parents are so stubborn to actually start a war or threaten the kingdom in any way... I'll be back, no matter what Kyungsoo says or what you say, if the situation gets worst I will return and I will take care of the responsibilities that were given to me"

"Baek..."

“No, it's okay, really… I had a good time here, and I will always treasure these memories if I need to return to the castle. Even if I have to go back, I will do it because I decide to, not because someone is forcing me"

Chanyeol quietly nodded his head and then slowly pulled away from the hug to look Baekhyun in the eye.

"If at any time you want to return or are willing to, just tell me... Regardless of what your parents say, I will welcome you to the castle with open arms"

Baekhyun smiled, ah, he really had a good heart.

“You are too good for this world, Chanyeol; outside and inside the water” he shook his head and the prince laughed a little. The tension was gone and now it was just the two of them, alone, in a calm and pleasant environment.

"Well, let's stop with the boring topics... You have to tell me how you got here, with details, because you really surprised me today at the bar" he took his arm and practically dragged him down the hall from the kitchen to his room. They both ended up sitting on the bed, each one in a corner, while they played a card game that Baekhyun enjoyed a lot: “one”.

“The day after you left, I was in my room getting ready, Kyungsoo came to see me and told me that the kings were calling me to the main hall. I went to see what they wanted and then they told me that you were not in your room, your window was open and some of your things had disappeared; they told me that they did not know if someone had taken you or you had left voluntarily, but that the royal guard was already in the vicinity looking for you. They also told me not to worry, that maybe the wedding would be a little late while they were looking for you, but that they would find you soon and then it would be the wedding. It was not canceled, it was only postponed"

Baekhyun threw a plus four. Chanyeol muttered a curse under his breath.

"When I returned to my room I noticed the rock with the note that you had left outside the window ... _< I'm very sorry, please be happy> _at that moment, I knew that you had left, and I started to get used to the idea that there wouldn't be a wedding, despite everything your parents might say about finding you" Chanyeol leaned back against the headboard of the bed, making himself comfortable "I wasn't mad at you, I think I never was, but I was wondering how I didn't see it coming"

"I didn't really plan to run away, I never did" Baekhyun picked up some cards after Chanyeol threw a plus two at him "I never actually planned to escape... Actually, in my head I had already made up my mind about that we were going to get married and all that stuff"

"And when did you decide to leave?"

“I didn't decide exactly, I just saw the opportunity… Kyungsoo told me about Jongin and Jongdae and gave me directions to get here, so I thought… Do I really want to? I hesitated a lot, but after all, it was probably the only chance I had to do something as crazy as leave the kingdom”

Chanyeol muttered and then took several more cards; man, he really sucked playing this game; "and what about our kiss?"

"What's up with that?"

"Was it you who wanted to kiss me, or were you just resigning yourself?"

Baekhyun gasped.

He even forgot to say "one"; he had automatically lost the game. It didn’t matter.

“I would never kiss you out of obligation, or out of pity. If we kissed it was because I wanted to, and I hope you wanted it too… I was sure of few things at the time, but at that moment I really wanted to kiss you. It was very difficult to go back to the castle that night and just gather my things and leave, knowing that I was going to leave you alone facing something that you shouldn’t be facing"

Chanyeol put the card game aside and approached Baekhyun with open arms. Soon Baek had latched onto him in a hug and they had both ended up huddled with all the cards around.

"I wanted to kiss you too" Chanyeol murmured against the hair of the boy who buried his head in his chest "I was never so sure of something in all my life, I could hardly even believe it when you told me to kiss you... I really thought you didn't like me at all"

“I don't like the idea of marrying someone I hardly know, I would like to have some choices, you know… I don't like the idea of being a king, I don't like the idea of having children or a lineage or something like that… But I really like you. When I met you I felt that I was finally seeing someone who really understood my situation without seeming to just have mercy or envy"

"I like you too... Even afterwards I couldn't stop thinking about you, I wanted to ask you why you had left, and I wanted to know if you were okay wherever you were" Chanyeol pulled back a little to look at Baekhyun’s face and even brushed some hair behind his ear.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you either" Baekhyun blushed a bit "I sent a letter to Kyungsoo asking how you were, and when I left I told him to make sure nothing happened to you in the castle... I guess you came here before I was able to get a letter back"

"Oh, I saw that letter... In fact, I found it before Kyungsoo, it made me curious and I read it a bit... That's how I found out that he knew where you were"

Chanyeol had started to play with Baekhyun's hair, combing and curling it between his fingers as the boy just settled in more and enjoyed the affectionate touches.

"Did anyone else see the letter?"

"No one else, I made sure to keep it well and destroy it once I discussed it with Kyungsoo... Since the kings made him my servant I think I became quite close to him, and I suppose he must trust me if he brought me here to see you"

Baekhyun smiled a little, pressing his nose against the other's chest. Chanyeol really smells like smoked salmon.

“I'm sorry I gave so many problems, but I was very afraid… I still am, I was afraid that if we got married I would ruin you; I'm not the funniest person, and before I came here I didn't really want anything. You know what people say, if you are not happy you will never be able to love someone; I think that I would never have found my happiness in the castle, even with you by my side, I would probably have just dragged you with me"

"You don't have to apologize, I get it" Chanyeol began to scratch his scalp while Baekhyun almost flinched at the affection of the touches "for the last time, I don't blame you for anything, I'm not angry, and I'm not going to ask you to come back to the castle if you don't want to"

Baekhyun moved his arms until he could wrap them around Chanyeol's body, engaging in a bear hug that he hoped would demonstrate his feelings better than his words.

"Thank you so much for everything"

They ended up being lazy all day, even though Baekhyun offered Chanyeol to go out for a walk around the city, he turned him down saying that he preferred to spend the day talking, because they had a lot to catch up on. They stopped talking about serious topics and moved on to silly things, like the stories of Baekhyun at the bar, especially at night when everything got fun.

He told him about Jongin and Jongdae, how they had helped him and how much he appreciates it. He also told him about Minseok, the silly and funny cat he was forced to work with. Finally, he told him about Sehun, the fairy with alcohol problems who came to the bar every night to reveal the secrets of the universe in exchange of palace gossip.

In general, he had made a rather peculiar group of friends, but Chanyeol couldn't wait to meet them during his time in the human world. Apparently they would be staying there for a couple of weeks, as he had asked the kings for time to “track down Baekhyun” to help the royal guard, although it was all a cover to sneak off with Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun showed him all the things he thought were cool: his phone, his television, his sequin pants that he had bought with Sehun in mind, the video game console that Jongin had lent him, and the glow-in-the-dark gel pens.

They played with the pens for a while; Baekhyun turned off the lights, took Chanyeol's hand, and started writing and drawing things on his palm. Soon, from his hand went to his arm and then his face, until Chanyeol had a game of tic-tac-toe drawn on his cheek.

During their time in the castle they didn’t have much time to know each other better, so they talked about a lot of banal things. What is your favorite food, what is your favorite color, what is your favorite variety of fish, your favorite species of crustacean… Normal things. Then Chanyeol remembered something.

"What was it like, seeing the sky for the first time?"

"It was incredible! Oh, you don't know how much. I saw it at dawn on the night I ran away; it must have been like 7 or 8 and I felt like the water wasn't that cold, so I climbed further to the surface. Then I noticed that the ice was not so thick, and in some parts it was already broken; I just had to push a bit and hold onto one of the large floating chunks of ice to get out. God, it was so pretty. Every morning I see the sun rise and I remember that moment” Baekhyun stared at the ceiling with a big smile, “it was the moment I realized I was really getting away from the castle, because I had never gotten this far... At the moment I didn't even know what to think, but my chest felt light"

Chanyeol listened to him, studying all of his features. He saw his bright eyes and dazzling smile as he spoke of the freedom of being away from the castle and all the new experiences he had had. The prince didn't even understand how his parents could force him to stay inside the realm, in such a confined space that he hadn't even gotten far enough away to stick his head out of the water and see what's in the outside world.

He was proud. He was happy. His heart was filled listening to him speak with such passion and with such happiness. He really looked like a totally different Baekhyun than the one he had met that couple of weeks in the castle, he was full of energy and practically vibrated when he spoke.

Speaking of the sky, and taking advantage of the fact that the room was dark to admire the fluorescent artwork that he had drawn along Chanyeol's arm, Baekhyun decided it was a good time to show him his super cool lamp.

It was one of those lamps that projected things on the ceiling, Jongdae had given it to him after Baekhyun saw it in one of those spam ads on Google. It projected stars, constellations between stars and galaxies in a very beautiful blue and subtly illuminated the room, making it perfect to keep on while you slept. Baekhyun curled up staring at the ceiling and little by little explained all the constellations in the image of the lamp to Chanyeol, who only listened and nodded slowly while looking attentively at the image he had projected.

When Kyungsoo and Jongin returned home in the middle of the afternoon they found Baekhyun and Chanyeol sleeping, with all the lights off except for the lamp that continued to project the constellations on the ceiling; they had the cards and the pens all around the bed, so messy that Kyungsoo even wondered if it was comfortable.

But more importantly, they were cuddling against each other, with Baekhyun resting his head on the prince's chest and wrapping one leg around his hip. At the same time, Chayeol had an arm around his shoulders, snoring like it was the best nap he had ever taken. The best part is that they definitely didn't look uncomfortable with each other, although maybe it's because they were sleeping.

In the end, Kyungsoo and Jongin decided it wasn't even worth waking them up and they just turned off the light and picked up the things that were lying around. They tiptoed out of the room, quietly, and let them continue their nap peacefully.

━━✧♛✧━━

Baekhyun and Chanyeol woke up for dinner, so they practically ended up sleeping all afternoon. Chanyeol was the first to wake up, but at that moment he didn't even try to get up; the hug and the position they were both in was too comfortable, so he'd just wait for Baekhyun to wake up as well as an excuse to stay like this for a little longer.

He moved one of his arms slowly so he could quietly stroke his hair, brushing the bangs away from his face and combing the hair with his fingers from root to tip. The movements were smooth, almost superficial, but enough for Baekhyun to half-open his eyes sleepily.

"Good morning?"

"Good evening, you mean," Chanyeol laughed as Baekhyun shrugged with a half smile, clinging a little closer to the larger body. It was so warm, like a big teddy bear.

They stayed like that for a while longer, without speaking. Both awake but still a bit lazy enjoying each other's company. It was nice. And everything was going well, until Baekhyun's stomach exposed him, growling for food.

"Are you hungry?" Chanyeol asked and Baekhyun slowly nodded, while little by little (much to his regret) they separated. It was time to leave the room and face the real world, and hopefully get food on the way.

They went out into the hallway together only to find all the lights in the house completely turned off, from those in the common areas (such as the hallway, the living room or the kitchen) to Jongin and Jongdae's rooms, which also were locked. If no one was there, then they should be downstairs at the bar. It sounded fun.

"Do you want to go down?" Baekhyun asked and Chanyeol nodded while shrugging, although he wasn't too keen on the idea of being around people when both he and Kyungsoo were supposed to be trying to be stealthy; but if they hadn't caught Baek, who literally worked there, what were the chances of someone else realizing he was also a prince?

They ended up going downstairs a few minutes later, after dressing up a bit, trying to look more decent after that nap. They intended to sneak in, not wanting to be noticed by the people at the bar, or at least that was the initial plan.

Clearly, those kinds of plans don't work when you have a fairy in colorful sequin pants screaming your name the moment you walk through the door.

"Baek! Baekhyun! Oh look at you, with company? We are sitting here, here! Baek, Baek! "

"I heard you the first time, Sehun!" Baekhyun responded with red cheeks, looking towards the source of the sound. He was very pleasantly surprised by seeing all of his friends, even Minseok who was supposed to be off work, sitting at one of the tables in the bar. It seemed very nice. Jongdae, Jongin, Kyungsoo, Minseok, Sehun… They were all there, he couldn't wait to sit down with and have a good time.

He forgot all the embarrassment and took Chanyeol's arm to drag him towards the table, quickly passing through the middle of all the other people that were dancing or standing around as quickly as possible. The other prince barely followed him, apologizing to all the people who were accidentally touched or pushed aside in the middle of the bustle that was the bar at night.

All of this happened in the 15 seconds that it took them to arrive.

There were quick introductions, a simple "hello, I'm Chanyeol" with "yes, we know" in response; soon everyone was comfortable at the table, with drinks and some sandwiches that the bar served to accompany as appetizers. It was very nice, everyone was talking (if the bustle that had formed at their table could still be considered talking, sure) and laughing amongst themselves, just having a good time after all the drama and serious conversations, Baekhyun really appreciated a moment of just having fun and not worry about anything else.

"So you took my advice, Baek?"

"Huh?"

"Breathe through your nose, don't use your teeth-"

"Oh god shut up" Baekhyun covered his face with his hands, spreading his fingers a little so he could see between them. Minseok laughed, holding his stomach with one hand and pounding the table with the other; it wasn't even that funny, but the alcohol made him have some exaggerated reactions.

"Come on! You can't tell me you were together all afternoon, and you didn't even suck his dick a bit” Minseok raised his eyebrows and Chanyeol gasped in surprise. The prince's body usually had a higher temperature than normal, but now his cheeks were glowing red hot; what kind of conversation is this?

"Min!" Baekhyun protested again, sinking into the chair. He can't believe this is really happening.

"But he's right" Sehun chimed in after practically gulping down the rest of the alcohol in his glass in one gulp "you didn't even suck his dick a bit?" What a waste of time”

"Oh, come on!" Baekhyun ended up banging his own head against the table, he must have prevented the conversation would end up being about dicks. Too bad this time it was Chanyeol's. The poor man did not even know what to do, he was upright in his chair, his face red as a tomato and moving one of his legs constantly due to nerves.

"Enough, you're making them nervous," Jongdae chimed in, patting Minseok. He meowed, but didn't seem to complain.

"But Dae-"

"No buts, let them go at their own pace, they can suck each other later"

"Dae, not you too!" Baekhyun yelled in exasperation before there was a chorus of laughter throughout the table. He was starting to get nervous, worried about Chanyeol's reaction; were they making him uncomfortable? He was really beginning to think that maybe coming here when everyone's a little drunk wasn't the best of the ideas. However, his thoughts faded when he felt the prince's hand on his thigh, squeezing it a little.

"It’s okay... Let them have fun, we know better," he murmured close to Baekhyun's ear, running his hand along his thigh to reassure him. Baekhyun doesn't know exactly if that reassured him or made him even more nervous, but he still appreciated the intention.

Soon the whole table changed the topic of conversation, concentrating now on making fun of Jongin and Kyungsoo and how they were holding hands. Everything got better for the princes once the attention was away from them, simply staying in their bubble in which no one else but the two of them mattered. They drank from time to time, they talked to each other, they laughed, they were just having fun like two normal friends.

And in all that time, Chanyeol's hand did not leave Baekhyun's thigh. Not even to eat or drink, the hand stayed there as if that was its place; and the young man wasn't complaining, the weight and heat felt nice against his skin, even if it was through the fabric of his jeans.

Sehun had been strangely quiet, which was weird. He always had the last word and something clever to say, according to Minseok, the fairy tried to prove that he had the biggest dick. Baekhyun never knew exactly what he meant by that, but he let it slide, it must be something they had acquired after living with humans for so long.

The thing is, Sehun wasn't talking and, for a while, he had been watching him and Chanyeol as they both had fun in their own world. He just sipped his drink and squinted at them.

Baekhyun decided to face him after a while of that sinister look, patting him on the arm, "what's wrong?" It was a simple, direct question, but Sehun still rolled his eyes and grunted before answering it.

"I have bad vibes"

"It's just the alcohol" Baekhyun hit him back. Chanyeol laughed.

"I'm serious, pretty little prince, I'm looking at you... And I feel something" he shuddered "are you sure you didn't suck his dick?"

"If you're going to start over with that-"

"No, I'm serious" the fairy looked at them both, with narrowed eyes; he was really thinking really hard, Baekhyun was surprised "did you ever hear about soulmates?"

"They're just a myth, at least for us," Chanyeol replied, a little interested in the conversation.

"It's true, mermaids don't have soul mates," Baekhyun seconded, and now both princes were looking at Sehun intently. He simply rolled his eyes and crossed his legs, as he took his glass and rocked the rest of the drink that was left there.

"In that you are wrong, my dear pretty princes... Mermaids have soulmates, just like all creatures with magic"

"But mermaids don't have magic..."

“You are still wrong about that! Didn't you learn anything from my lessons on magical creatures here at the bar? Do not be silly! Forget everything you learned about mermaids, leave it under the sea, now listen to me"

The pair fell silent, glancing at each other just before turning their heads slowly towards Sehun. Answers, they wanted answers.

“Oh no, I was just coming here to have a little fun…” Sehun drank dramatically again “and now I have to take care of two kids who don't know anything. God help me, dumb kids"

"Listen! We are not-"

"Silence!" Sehun shut him up, his eyes narrowed. Baekhyun pouted. Chanyeol just pinched his arm, he wanted to hear what he had to say. Fairies were usually wise… Usually "now, if you want to know the truth, it won't be cheap..."

"Do you want money or something?" Baekhyun asked cautiously, and Sehun laughed.

"I want a glass of the most expensive liquor this place has, and I want it free"

The young man complained, pouted, and tugged at his arm to try to get him to speak for free. He couldn't, of course, and ended up fetching a bottle of vintage whiskey that they kept for special occasions. He poured him only one glass and, just in case, put the bottle on the table; Baekhyun hoped it was worth that hit on his salary, because if Sehun was just kidding he was definitely going to add that drink to the fairy's bill.

And he didn't even bother to take it quickly, like Baekhyun wanted. He was slow, swallowing little by little, while the two princes talked to each other; were there really mermaids with soulmates? How were they? He couldn't be serious.

At a certain point, Baek was about to launch himself to strangle Sehun to make him drink faster and start talking, but he managed to stay still; more or less. The fairy put the glass on the table and took a deep breath, with a smile.

"That was amazing, I could really invite me to a drink more often, I'd appreciate it"

"Soulmates" Baekhyun narrowed his eyes, "let it go, that was too expensive"

"Please" Chanyeol simply added from behind; both princes leaning like puppies on the table, looking directly at Sehun who just rolled his eyes and prepared himself for another long boring conversation that shouldn't be had when under the influence of alcohol. Too late, he would think about his actions tomorrow morning from the comfort of his bed while fighting his hangover.

"All magical creatures have a soulmate, you know that, right?"

"Yes"

"Well, and mermaids are magical creatures?"

“Well…” Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun, confused, “are they? All the mermaids? We have magic, but... "

"No buts! It was a yes or no question!" Sehun didn't even give him time to keep asking questions, "Mermaids are descended from a magical creature, maybe not all mermaids can use magic since it has been weakened over the generations... But if you descend from a creature with magic, you are a magical creature. Period"

"Ohh..." Chanyeol nodded, and Baekhyun seconded his opinion nodding as well.

“So, all magical creatures have a soulmate; although not everyone can see it. Only those who truly have a powerful source of magic running through their veins can know exactly that they have a soulmate. The rest have it too, they just never will know. Most will follow instincts, because a soulmate can be felt"

“So mermaids with magic can tell if they have a soulmate? And why among the mermaids it is believed that they do not exist?"

"It's very simple..." Sehun shrugged and then looked at them both with a mischievous smile on his face "because to know if that person is your soulmate, you have to suck his dick"

There was a long silence as both princes processed what he had just told them. Meanwhile, Sehun took the opportunity to pour himself another glass of whiskey.

"Are you kidding? Are you making fun of us?"

“No” the fairy shrugged and took a sip of the drink, sipping it slowly “I mean, yes; I'm making fun of you, but it's not very far from reality either"

"Explain yourself," Chanyeol said quietly, defensively; the guy didn't give him a good feeling. Sehun couldn't blame him for it.

“Mermaids reproduce with eggs, it is an external reproduction, like most fish. Subject A will lay the eggs and subject B will inseminate them externally; right?" both princes nodded, and he just sighed “so during mating there is no intention of physical contact, let me explain… To know if the person you are with is your soulmate, you basically have to have a connection with his in the sexual sphere"

Neither Chanyeol nor Baekhyun knew what to say. And the rest of the table had begun to take an interest in the classes; great.

"Why does it have to be like that?" Kyungsoo asked curiously as he took a potato chip from the appetizers in the center of the table and popped it into his mouth.

"It is not known exactly why it is that way" Sehun muttered as he brought the glass of drink close to his mouth, simply to try to be interesting "the most accepted theory among fairies so far is simply because during sex any person will be following the most primitive mating instincts, adenaline also fuels our magic… We are powerful and wild at that moment, so the magic within us goes a little crazy, to say the least. So, boom, if it's your soulmate, an unbreakable bond will form between the two of you. "

"What if a person who does not have magic is the soulmate of someone with magic?"

"Then the link only works on the part of the person who has magic... That person will find out that they found their soulmate, but the person without magic will not feel anything"

There was a general silence at the table, it could be said that it was even a bit awkward. So Sehun decided to continue talking, after all, he had promised information from the soulmates in exchange for a glass of the whiskey (and he had already had two, and was going for a third one).

“When your magic goes crazy in the middle of contact with your soulmate, your energy is going to focus on some part of your body. Then in that part a symbol will appear, like an indelible tattoo; both people should get that tattoo. It connects you with your soulmate at all times, if you are far away, it burns and only calms down once you get back together"

"You know a lot about soulmates ..." Baekhyun muttered, Sehun poured himself another drink. He was already at the bottom of the bottle.

“A person lives many years, and many experiences. You are still a child, you are still learning” this last drink he took faster, just before getting up “well, my work is done; there's no liquor left, it's late, and I should go"

"Not! Wait, I still have more questions! " Baekhyun was going to grab him, but the fairy quickly walked away, without even saying goodbye. It was not the moment, nor the day. The young man was going to chase him, and would have done so if not for Chanyeol holding his arm.

"It’s okay, he already explained enough" he assured him, as both princes turned their heads to look toward the door. There was Sehun, outside the bar, taking a cigarette out of his jacket and lighting it as he walked away. From where Baekhyun and Chanyeol were sitting, everything seemed normal, as far as possible at least, because the fairy had always always been a mysterious person.

There were things that nobody knew and that nobody had to know. At least that's what Sehun thought, who was walking quickly away from the bar feeling the burn of his own mark on his forearm. Soulmates… He has been ignoring that concept for too long.

The rest stayed at the bar for a while longer, until they decided it was time for a proper dinner. When Sehun left, all the serious conversations were forgotten: they had a little more food, a little more alcohol, and turned up the volume of the music on the dance floor. It was a fun night, just a group of friends having some charity time with each other.

However, dancing close to Chanyeol, seeing the colored lights colliding with his face and his carefree smile as he jumped to the beat of the music, Baekhyun wondered if they were soulmates. It reminded him so much of that time they had kissed, long ago, but still feeling like a fresh kiss on his lips. His eyes, his mind, his skin, his mouth; everything was flooded by the presence of the other prince, who was once his fiancé.

He thought of all those times his mother had told his that his relationship with Chanyeol was written in the books, what was sshe referring to? Did she know they could be soul mates? Even he couldn't tell if they both were. Everything was so confusing. He wanted someone to just come to him and give him some much-needed answers.

However, that would not happen. And overthinking… It wasn't something he should do now. So, he decided to enjoy the moment.

Then, under the neon light of the cheap, plastic ball hanging from the ceiling, amidst a crowd of unfamiliar and slightly sweaty people, he kissed Chanyeol. Again.

And they both enjoyed it, just letting themselves be carried away by the moment; almost involuntary, as if his lips had simply decided to come together like magnets. Baekhyun rested his hands on the prince's chest, while he deepened the kiss and brought him closer, wrapping his arms around his waist. It was long, much longer than their first kiss.

"I missed you so much..." Baekhyun murmured against his lips, as Chanyeol brought their foreheads together.

"Me too" looked him straight in the eye, and the young man would swear that he had never seen his eyes that full of feelings ever before "please don't run away from me"

"I won't, I promise you"

And they kissed again, not caring about what tomorrow might bring.

━━✧♛✧━━

The next morning they woke up to the loud alarm clock ringing right above their heads. Both princes jumped off the bed, scared, as Baekhyun reached out one of his arms to turn it off as fast as his hungover brain allowed. It was a pretty intense for like 5 seconds.

"Well... Good morning." Chanyeol yawned and stretched, taking up most of the bed, while the other shrunk into a small place to try not to fall.

"Good morning" Baekhyun mumbled as he rubbed his left eye and then his forehead, oh boy, was he confused. Yesterday they drank much more than what would be recommendable, especially knowing that he had to work the next day. Shit, work.

Baekhyun got out of bed quickly, he needed to shower, a coffee and brush his teeth; maybe not in that order. He was disheveled, confused, and he still hadn't opened his eyes properly but he was already opening his closet in search of one of his waiter uniforms that was clean. Considering that his brain was asleep and his eyes were more closed than open, it was incredible how quickly he found a shirt and pants in good condition to wear at work.

Baekhyun was about to walk out the door when he suddenly heard Chanyeol call out to him. His voice was scratchy, probably from yesterday's alcohol, but god if Baek didn't find that sexy.

He turned slowly from the door, his clothes held tightly in his arms, and the image he encountered took his breath away completely. The first rays of the morning sun came through the window and hit directly on Chanyeol's golden skin, his skin... Too much skin, the sheets only covered him from the waist down, so he did not know exactly if the other prince was completely naked; but just by looking at his chest, abdomen and arms Baekhyun could vividly imagine the rest. He shouldn’t. He wasn’t going to do it. But, well, he could do it; maybe another time.

"Baek?"

"Huh?"

"I was talking to you"

"You were?"

Chanyeol laughed just before he sat down on the bed, pulling the sheet off himself. Thank god he had pants.

"I was, come here..." the prince said and Baekhyun approached him, little by little, a slowness that he couldn't really afford or he would be late for work; but there he was, walking towards the prince slow like a turtle.

When they were close enough, Chanyeol raised one of his hands and patted the other prince's cheek. Baek couldn't help but lean on the touch, allowing himself to rest his head against the hand that was snuggling him. Yeol smirked, moving a little closer to him until he managed to give him a little kiss on the lips. It was unforeseen, but sweet; Baekhyun felt that his heart would explode (in the best way possible).

"Are you going down to work?"

"I... Yes, I work, I have-"

"Okay" Chanyeol stroked his cheek a bit and then arranged his bangs, tucking some of his hair behind his ear "good luck at work, see you later? I'm going down there for breakfast, I think"

Baekhyun's brain was mush. Fried, melted, pulverized and crushed. He didn't even know how he managed to give the prince more or less coherent answers.

“Yeah… Yeah, see you there, I… Uh, bye? see you later?"

Chanyeol smirked. His brain became even more mush, now they were liquefying it.

"See you later Baek, have a nice day"

When the young prince left the room, he didn't even know what to think. What shit. He leaned against the closed door of his room for a moment as he tried to process everything that had just happened, but couldn't think beyond Chanyeol's muscles or how his lips felt or how his voice was scratchy or how he had kissed him. They had kissed. God, they kissed a lot.

Baekhyun covered his face with his hands trying to cool his completely red cheeks a bit, although he knew that wouldn't work if his heart didn't stop beating so hard. Perhaps a cold shower would help clear his thoughts a bit.

"Park Chanyeol, what are you doing to me?"

Baekhyun took a quick cold shower, he just wanted to wake up as quickly as possible and leave the haze of alcohol from last night behind. He got dressed, brushed his teeth, and just ran down to the bar thinking he'd be late. He couldn't be more wrong, because when he got to the door, Minseok was still on the other side of the street.

"You're early," the hybrid told him from the opposite sidewalk, just before crossing the street.

"I thought I was late, so I hurried this morning... But I guess I was the first one to arrive"

"Yeah… Honestly, seeing how you were yesterday, I'm even surprised you're here this morning" Minseok laughed, pulling the keys out of his left pocket and opening the front door.

"I wasn't that bad," Baekhyun muttered as he stepped inside. The cat did the same and took the liberty of changing the sign of the premises from "closed" to "open".

They passed to the other side of the bar, at this time no one was awake except some sailors who would appear by the bar to order a coffee before going fishing, so the place was quiet. That gave them both some time to get ready: they fixed their uniforms, cleaned tables, swept the floor, checked inventory, and waited for Jongdae to show up.

Life at dawn was very quiet, carefree.

"Are you trying to convince me that you were sober yesterday? You were literally eating Chanyeol"

"No, I don't mean that-" Baekhyun blushed as he took the broom out of the drawer and began to sweep the floor; anything to ignore awkward conversations “I mean… Yeah, well, I was a little drunk; but it wasn't out of my senses I knew what he was doing when we kissed, and so did he..."

Minseok muttered as he wiped a cloth over the bar, glancing at him with a smile; ah, so interesting.

"Do you like him?"

"I am attracted to him" Baekhyun assured that without hesitation. He didn't know the depth of his attraction for Chanyeol, but he would only be lying to himself if he said he didn't like him at least a little. He was handsome, nice, they understood each other, they had things in common… Shit, they were engaged once, and he's the person he's kissed the most times in his entire life. And the prince kissed well, let me tell you.

It's not likeBaekhyunI'd kissed someone else to have any comparable reference point, but he felt like he could be kissing Chanyeol for a long, long time.

"Did you think about what Sehun said?"

"The soulmates thing?"

"Yes, soulmates... do you think you are?"

The prince shrugged as he put the broom back in its drawer, focusing his attention now on mopping around the tables and chairs.

“Even if we are… what would change? He has obligations, he will probably return to the castle when his visit is over… And I will stay here; now we belong to different worlds, I can't go back, but he's not going to stay here either…” Baekhyun sighed, squeezing the damp cloth he had between his hands.

"So what's going to happen between you and him?"

“Nothing is going to happen… I suppose we are friends now, maybe more than that; but we could never go further. Even if we really are soulmates, which is only a very small possibility, I don't want to us anymore…. I don't want to hurt him, I've done enough” he lowered his head a little, thoughtful “I don't want to make it worse”

"Well, good luck buddy" Minseok had started making coffees for both of them, so he ended up turning his back on Baekhyun "although if Chanyeol likes you, you should talk about this with him, relationships are complicated"

"Relationships are complicated, huh? So what about Jongdae? "

Minseok chuckled as he put the coffee into two cups, leaving both on the bar and inviting Baekhyun to sit down.

"I just suck his dick sometimes, there is no complicated relationship in that... I would say you should try, but what would we do if you go crazy and get a tattoo on your ass?" Minseok shook his head a few times before taking a sip of his coffee.

"You are a strange person"

"I know, but not as strange as you"

"Touché," Baekhyun mumbled, blowing into the cup a few times before drinking the coffee. It was nice, and it definitely helped him clear his mind and wake him up a bit more before actually starting his day.

They finished drinking their coffee and went to take inventory, jotting down whatever might be needed for later so that Jongdae could go buy it later at the market; oh, and speaking of Jongdae, he arrived a bit later just in time to pick up both boys' notes and go to the market to buy the freshest products.

In general, the morning was nice. It was not such a good day, summer was about to end, so people went to the beach after lunch to get the best hours of the sun. Mornings were colder, at the lowest tide, and pretty unpleasant if the sun wasn’t that bright.

However, there were still customers, sailors or simply people who walked taking advantage of the breeze; children who stopped in the parks or went crab hunting among the rocks on the beach and wanted an ice cream, or teenagers wanting to take photos of their vegan smoothies to upload them to Instagram. Baekhyun was definitely used to this kind of routine after these couple of months.

Chanyeol showed up in the middle of the morning, around eleven.

Okay, he had warned him that he was coming, and he knew he wanted to have breakfast at the bar… But Baek didn't really expect to see him; perhaps that conversation was just an illusion of hers caused by the remains of alcohol in his body, or a very vivid dream.

So he didn’t know what to do.

"D-do you want to sit down? There are free tables, or the bar- wherever you want, sir, I mean, Chanyeol?" Baekhyun gulped and gestured with his hands, who were pointing to a couple of free and clean tables. He was nervous, but how could he not be in a situation like that? God, their relationship was so complicated. Why does everything have to be complicated?

"Baek, calm down" the prince said in a calm voice, much nicer than the raspy tone of this morning… Not that he doesn't like the raspy tone, of course.

"I'm calm"

"Good" Chanyeol smiled at him and leaned down a little with the intention of kissing him. Baekhyun successfully dodged it, although he couldn't say if there is any kind of success in dodging the prince's kisses. For a moment he looked disappointed, his lips slightly pursed in a kind of pout, though Yeol didn’t say anything to reproach the other’s actions. Thank God.

“Sit at the bar, I… What do you want to eat? Want a coffee? Did you have breakfast?"

"I am actually coming for breakfast" the prince mentioned as he approached the bar, sitting there. Soon Baekhyun went to the other side to face "what do you recommend for breakfast?"

“Well… I guess it's not very usual for breakfast, but at lunchtime we offer tuna salad. Could I make it for you right now, it's not much different than what we used to eat in the castle, maybe a little less fancy? But it tastes good, I promise"

"So you are cooking it?" Baekhyun nodded a couple of times "then you can make me whatever you want, and I'm sure the salad is amazing"

He poured him a glass of water before going into the kitchen to prepare the breakfast, Baekhyun was a little worried that the prince would get bored there alone, but oh… He didn't know Minseok was there to give him some conversation.

"So what?" The cat leaned against the bar as he pretended to wipe a glass that was obviously already dry, only to appear to be working while trying to get the full gossip from Chanyeol.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, man..." He leaned down a bit so that the other customers in the bar wouldn't hear him, speaking near the prince "the drama, you know? You were engaged, not now, then you kiss… tell me, do you like Baekhyun?"

"I like him" Chanyeol blushed a little as he looked at Minseok, that just made his cat smile even bigger.

"And you think you are soulmates?"

"Yes, I think so... I wasn't sure before, but I can see that there is a link between us"

“How romantic” the cat put a hand to his chest “then what? Are you going to see if it’s real? You know…"

"Well I don't know what Baekhyun thinks of that" he sighed just before drinking some water "but I really would like to check it, and see what we do with our relationship..."

"Oh, dear, I'm sure everything will be fine" he tapped the prince on the shoulder to try to comfort him "can I do something for you? We don't know much about each other, but I'm friends with Baekhyun, you know, I want the best for him"

"Do something?" Chanyeol thought for a bit, and then snapped his fingers “can you and his turn sooner? I really would like to have as much time as possible with him, I am not going to stay here long and I want to resolve our relationship as soon as possible"

"You got it, buddy" Minseok winked before punching the table, excited “get that breakfast and then you can take Baekhyun with you”

"Seriously?"

"Does it seem like I'm joking?"

"No" Chanyeol smiled as he got up to take his hand and shake "thank you very much"

"It's nothing, anything for my friends... Hybrid things, you wouldn’t understand"

Minseok decided to leave him alone and went to attend to new customers. Chanyeol just stood there waiting for Baekhyun to come out of the kitchen, playing around with some napkins that were on the table and drinking water from time to time. About 10 minutes later his food was in front of him with a very proud Baekhyun on the other side of the bar.

"Don't tell anyone, but I took the freshest cut of tuna in the kitchen... I hope you like it"

"Thank you!" the prince smiled at him just before starting to eat. It tasted good, it was very tender, especially compared to what they ate in the water. This one was actually cooked, and there were many more items that went along with the food, not just meat and seaweed... Human food, in his opinion, was far better than any raw fish they could eat underwater, no matter how fresh it was.

"It's amazing," Chanyeol told him sincerely, taking another bite of the salad willingly. This place wasn't even a restaurant, but he could imagine why so many people came to eat there.

"Thank you very much" the young man sincerely sighed with a relieved smile. Oh, thank goodness he hadn't screwed up the other's food. Baekhyun was still learning, just preparing the food and letting Minseok cook or finish it, and that was one of the few times that he had managed to make a meal himself. Yes, it was simple, just the tuna and the salad, there weren't even that many things cooked… But he couldn't help but feel a bit proud of his own progress in the human world.

"Minseok told me that you could leave soon"

"Seriously? When?"

"When I finish the salad" Chanyeol mentioned casually just before drinking some water "I'm sorry to take you out of work, but I'm not going to be in the town a lot… I really want to spend as much as time possible with you"

Oh sure. 6 days. He would leave in 6 days, maybe less, 5 and a half days. Baekhyun lowered his head slightly, but nodded anyways.

"It’s okay, I can do some extra hours later, because I'd also like to spend as much time as possible with you and Kyungsoo while you're around"

"I- We too, we would like to spend as much time as possible with you while we are here"

While Chanyeol ate they talked about rather banal matters, the work at the restaurant, the customers, and what kinds of things he did during work. Meanwhile Baekhyun made some ice cream for some kids and some coffees that Minseok served to the tables that were starting to get full just before lunch time. The atmosphere was nice, rustic even, and the prince understood why the bar was such a popular place in the city.

When the salad was finished it was Minseok who picked it up, urging Baekhyun to leave as soon as possible. Neither prince objected and they both left the bar together after saying goodbye and wishing him luck for the rest of the day.

"Where do you want to go?" Baekhyun asked once they were standing in front of the bar door "I need to go up and change my clothes"

"I just wanted to walk around the city, I haven't been out of the water in years; I just want to look around, maybe we can go and have lunch together"

"That would be great" Baekhyun smiled, excited; in his months living there, he hadn't been able to walk very deeply around the city, so it would be a good opportunity for both of them "then I'm going to change, I can't wear the uniform on our date"

"Our date?"

Baekhyun blushed. Oh

"I mean, if you want it to be a date... Or it could just be a date with friends-"

"No" Chanyeol quickly denied as he approached to take his hand, the gesture was not even subtle "a date, I love how that sounds"

Oh shit, maybe Baekhyun’s brain was still mush. A date. Well.

They went home again so that Baekhyun could change clothes, and Chanyeol was forced to wait in the kitchen because _"you can't see me naked”._

About half an hour later, the door to the boy's room opened to reveal a well-groomed Baekhyun. If Chanyeol thought that the first time he saw him he was pretty, with all those jewels and pearls adorning his body, this was a near death experience. The boy looked too good, in tight pants and a very large sweatshirt that he was sure someone else could fit in; hopefully Chanyeol himself. He also had ankle boots that lifted him a bit off the ground, yet he was still looking tiny.

It was simple, but it took his breath away.

And oh, that was just the clothes; because apparently he had also put on eyeliner, little, subtle, but it was still there… His lips were adorned with glitter and God save him if they weren't totally kissable. Chanyeol was about to put all his plans aside to just sit with him and kiss for the next 6 hours.

In summary. Baekhyun is cute. He is the cutest person the prince has ever seen. And best of all, Baekhyun was shining; when he met him he looked dull, sad, now his skin, his eyes and his hair were light, with subtle shine that no one else would notice. Only he, who could see beyond the magic. Chanyeol could see his happiness as he walked briskly towards him in the kitchen, wearing the most dazzling smile he's ever seen.

"You look amazing"

"Oh, you too"

"No, I'm serious" Chanyeol approached him, putting a hand on his cheek "it's not your clothes or something... It's you, you look amazing"

Baekhyun blushed, allowing himself to lean against his hand "I guess that's good"

"Yes..." The prince leaned down a bit to kiss his forehead "happiness suits you, Baekhyun"

And he didn't even know what to say, although perhaps silence was the best answer in that kind of situation. Chanyeol didn't even need an answer, he wasn't saying anything strange, the prince was just telling what he sees in the young man's bright appearance.

After a while they were walking through the narrow streets of the city. It was a small place, driven by fishing and the market that fishing brought; it barely had a small school and the beach or the pier. It was a quiet place, definitely Jongin and Jongdae had chosen it well... Surrounded by forest in which surely some magical creatures lived and far from the real civilization, it was not a nucleus, people did not care that suddenly two dudes appeared out of nowhere. Neighbors lived their quiet lives and no one bothered each other.

Baekhyun'd seen a lot more activity throughout the summer, with people coming on vacation just for the beach, but now in September everything was even quieter. Lethargic, you might say. Both princes walked side by side on the road, without fear of a car passing by, stepping on some dry leaves that indicated that summer was indeed about to end.

"This place... The town is nice"

"I think so too" Baekhyun replied as he gave a little kick to a dry leaf in the middle of the road, watching it fly and land slowly a few centimeters ahead.

“It looks like a very nice place to live” Chanyeol looked around “with the sea right next to it… it shouldn't be a problem for you to rebuild your life here”

"We'll see what the future brings" Baekhyun muttered in response, glancing at the other sideways. Then, by chance, their eyes met. Chanyeol moved a little closer to him, holding his hand. Baek raised his own hand and laced his fingers with the prince's.

Even if their hands were very different sizes, it felt like they fit perfectly. He thought for a moment, as he extended his arm towards Chanyeol's body, that his hands would be too big to hold properly. But now, with their fingers intertwined, he could only notice the pleasant, constant heat radiating from the other's palm.

"I don't understand why you're always so cold" Yeol complained as Baekhyun laughed, squeezing his hand a little.

"It's what happens when you live your whole life under ice" he pressed his other hand against the tall man's cheek, demonstrating his point "I'm cold-blooded, my whole body is frozen. It could be snowing right now, I wouldn't even notice it against my skin"

"That must be tough"

"It's not that bad" he shrugged "however, I can feel the heat"

"Oh" Chanyeol was a bit surprised, wrapping his hand around Baekhyun's more in a poor attempt to warm him up "so can you notice me?"

“Yeah… It's so nice, especially when we sleep. It's so warm, I like it"

"This is what happens when you live all your life next to volcanoes"

They both laughed a little, swinging their hands as they continued on their way. They didn't have a set course, and they didn't really know how they were going to get home, but that wasn't a problem to think about now. If Baekhyun learned something after living between humans, it was _living the moment_ , because you never know how much happiness is going to last. Why should he worry about the path to come back home? Why would he bother following a route? They can find a solution for that later.

"And did you take me out of work just to walk around town, or is there more that you want to do?"

"What? Don't you like our date?"

Baekhyun squeezed his hand and patted his shoulder with his head. Chanyeol laughed.

"You know that's not what I'm saying, silly, I like our date"

“I just wanted to get away a bit… Kyungsoo, Jongin, Jongdae; they are all nice people, but when I am around them I constantly remind myself that this is just a visit. We will be here for a while, and then I will return to the palace and pretend that I have never seen you...”

"You can ask me to come back with you”

Chanyeol stopped in the middle of the road, turning to look Baekhyun in the eye.

"I won't ask you to come back with me unless you want to come back ... Would you ask me to stay with you?"

"I... I wouldn't ask you unless you wanted to stay here"

Chanyeol nodded and Baekhyun lowered his head, putting his forehead against the prince's chest. He couldn't believe how unfair everything was.

"What if I decide to return? With you"

"I wouldn't allow it unless you really had reasons"

Baekhyun took a step forward, hiding in the prince’s chest. Both princes stood still, in the middle of the road; only the cool late summer breeze bothered them in such an intimate moment.

“Perhaps we are soulmates” Baekhyun murmured against his chest, “isn’t that a good enough reason to come back? Maybe you are my other half, maybe I am your other half"

"But we don't know that"

"And are we going to check it out?" The young man clenched his fists, Chanyeol sighed.

"Do you really want to check it out?" he murmured that against his ear, burying his nose in the soft hair; "If you want to prove it, I am not opposed to it... But you have to face the consequences, whether we are soulmates or not, our relationship would not be the same after knowing it"

"I like what we have now"

"What we have now won't last forever, Baek" Chanyeol lifted his head, cupping the younger’s chin in one hand. From there he could see Baekhyun’s teary eyes, "what we have now will last until the end of the week, then most likely we will never see each other again"

“What if we are soulmates? What if we find out? I don't know how to deal with that, Chanyeol, I like you… But I'm not ready to go back to the castle” the prince nodded slowly, bending down a little to bring their foreheads together.

"If we are soul mates then we will have to find a solution, somehow, I would not leave you here, but I wouldn’t force you to come back to the kingdom. Everything is your decision"

"Please don't let me choose" Baekhyun's eyes filled with nervous tears "I don't want to go back and I don't want to leave you, but I don't want to be selfish and ask you to stay here with me; I don't know what to do, I can't make a decision like that"

"You have to take it" Chanyeol brought both hands to the prince's face, wiping away the tears before they even began to flow. Baekhyun took a deep breath as he leaned against the warm touch; "It doesn't have to be right now, but we really don't have that much time... We can just forget all this and go on with our lives like in the last few months, or we can change everything"

"So I decide..." the young man sighed, trying to find comfort in the warmth of the other’s body, "can't we stay like this forever?"

Chanyeol laughed as he bent down to hug him, before giving Baekhyun a short kiss on the lips.

"As much as I'd like to, we can't stay like this forever" he kissed him again, a little deeper. When the kiss ended, they didn't even part much, leaving their noses almost touching. "You could start by choosing a place to eat, you know"

Baekhyun nodded slightly, rubbing their noses.

“There is a seafood restaurant near here, you will like it. It reminds me of what we eat at sea, but better"

"Then let's go" the prince winked at him and separated a little, intertwining their hands again "guide me, Baek"

"You trust me too much"

"Of course I trust you" Chanyeol pulled him forward, trying to leave the heavy atmosphere behind "we don't know each other that much, but I would say that you are the most trustworthy person I have ever met. Kyungsoo may be in the top, but your heart… It’s gold"

Baekhyun denied a couple of times as he continued to walk forward.

“You are wrong about that, Yeol; you are the one with a golden heart, I always knew"

They went to the restaurant that Baekhyun had recommended, holding hands like they were just human teenagers in love. There were hardly any people on the street, but those who saw them gave them conspiratorial or sideways glances, noticing their hands together or their shoulders almost touching from time to time - it was as if they knew more about their relationship than they did. If their attraction was so obvious, what is going to happen between them at the end?

Even in the restaurant, the owner gave them _that_ look. She was a nice granny who always greeted Baekhyun and invited him to fortune cookies when he went to eat. Without asking, she gave them a table for two and seated them across from each other, as any other couple would.

"What are you going to want to eat, dear?"

“Noodle soup would be nice, with tilapia… And sushi, salmon? And vegetables, please; the usual, just bring it double”

"Perfect" the lady smiled at them "and you know, some fortune cookies as a present from the house for you and your boyfriend"

Baekhyun blushed, Chanyeol smirked.

"We are not…"

“Thank you very much for the cookies, ma'am; and for the food, _my boyfriend_ said a lot of good things about this place"

The lady giggled a little, giving the young prince a playful pat on the arm.

“You got quite a heartthrob, young man; you have to bring him more often, or my free fortune cookies will run out for you"

Baekhyun was still blushing, but he nodded and mumbled a "thank you" as the woman left to the kitchen, probably to notify the cooks of his order. When they were alone, he faced Chanyeol.

"Boyfriend?"

"Let her think whatever she wants... And I like how it sounds, this is a date anyways" the prince leaned his elbows on the table, leaning a little over his with a smug smile "don't you think so, _boyfriend_?"

"Oh stop" Baekhyun covered his face with his hands, a little embarrassed "humans ask for it formally, they don't just decide to call someone a boyfriend or something like that; It's our first date, you have to take me at least three so I can consider you as my boyfriend"

So it was three dates, huh? If Baekhyun wanted it that way, he would get it.

The fish, the sushi, even the soup; everything was delicious, just as the other had said. They were both full after eating all the dishes. And after paying, the kind lady approached them both with a small bowl full of fortune cookies.

"They should be chosen at random, then they will correctly determine you fortune"

Chanyeol was not a superstitious person, nor did he believe in fate; but he saw Baekhyun and felt in his heart that it was his destiny to be there with him. He didn't know how or when he had started to get that feeling, but now it was fully seated in his chest and it wouldn’t go away no matter how he tried to convince himself. Chanyeol opened the cookie without much hope of seeing something really interesting, and then he read it.

_“There are many more possibilities, follow new horizons, go where your heart dictates”_

Weirdly specific, what is this?

"What does your cookie say?" Baekhyun asked curiously as he leaned over the table to try to see the other's paper. Chanyeol quickly hid it against his chest.

"What does yours say?"

" _Are you at home_. It just says that, it's weird, right? Do you think they made any spelling mistakes?"

Chanyeol smiled a little. Home, of course. Baekhyun is home… Baekhyun is where he should be. The cookies weren't wrong.

"I don't think so... I think the cookie says exactly what it should say"

"How boring!" he crossed his arms "come on, now tell me yours"

"I'll tell you on one condition" Chanyeol put the small piece of paper in his pocket, now, Baekhyun was interested to know what he put on that little piece of paper.

"Okay, even though lately people are making deals with me where I end up losing"

"I'll tell you if you promise to go on two more dates with me"

"Two more dates? Why?"

"Because on the third date, you would be my boyfriend. According to you, this is how it works with humans, so I am inviting you on two other dates” they looked into each other's eyes for a moment. Baekhyun was still a bit suspicious "deal? I'll tell you what it says on our third date, I promise”

"Do you really promise?"

"I swear, and the promise of a prince is unbreakable"

Baekhyun smiled and extended a hand. Chanyeol took it. Their pact was sealed.

"You know, I would go on more dates with you even if you didn't show what the cookie says"

"Then I won't show you"

"No! You have to tell me what it says! You promised. You have to keep your promise, prince"

The old woman watched them both from the kitchen with a fond smile adorning her face. She didn't hear them very well, age problems, but she could see them perfectly. Young people, they looked so in love, they reminded him a bit of her and her husband. She wished them the best in their relationship from the bottom of her heart.

She hoped to see both of the around the restaurant soon.

And she let them know when they both left. The lady got up to give Baekhyun two kisses on the cheek, and then a handshake with Chanyeol. She told them to come back soon and that she would wait for them with the best fish they could find in the whole city. They both thanked the granny and promised to return soon; sadly, they both knew that this could be Chanyeol's first and last visit.

They walked a little more the rest of the day, without a fixed direction. They walked through the streets of the city, sometimes empty, other times full of people. They even went to the market, and it was even the first time for Baekhyun going there, but it was a fun adventure. They didn't really buy anything, they just walked around and chatted quietly.

That afternoon they discovered many things about each other. Banal stuff, like Baekhyun was totally terrified of sharks and Chanyeol once managed to tame and ride one. They talked about humans, the town, the city, and work. They even talked about a thing called Netflix that the young prince apparently totally adored.

It took them a while to get home, and by the time they arrived, the sun was setting on the horizon. They had to stop for a while to watch the sky change color, but it's not like Chanyeol could refuse something Baekhyun asked him.

When they went home, the hot dinner prepared by Kyungsoo and Jongdae was waiting for them; and then everyone sat at the kitchen table to eat it together as if they were one big family. It was incredible.

And the day didn't even end there. Then Baekhyun was able to sit with Kyungsoo and Chanyeol on the couch and watch a ridiculously large number of episodes of a slightly bad mermaid series that he had found on Netflix. It helped the prince understand what exactly humans thought about mermaids, and also made them laugh a lot with all the inaccuracies the show had. Really, humans had a very strange idea of them and their life, but he wasn't going to blame them either.

Later, in bed, with his head resting on Chanyeol's warm chest and wrapped in a bear hug so nice he felt like he might hibernate right now, Baekhyun thought. He thought that he was happy, and that the last few days had probably been the best of his life. He couldn't wait for the next morning to come to spend more fun time, go on a few dates, and get even more kisses.

And at the same time, he felt his time with Chanyeol slowly fading away. Two days. There were five left. Baekhyun couldn't waste a moment now. He couldn't even allow himself to be sad... It would be tragic, he could be all sad and regret his decisions later, when the prince was away; right now he needed to enjoy the moment.

"Yeol..." he mumbled quietly as the boy muttered to answer him and let him know he was awake. The buzzing in the prince’s chest tickled Baekhyun "I just was thinking"

"About what?"

"How much I like you"

Chanyeol laughed and shifted their positions a bit so that Baekhyun's head was level with his own. Their eyes met under the soft blue light of Baekhyun’s lamp.

"I like you too"

Baekhyun blushed a little and quickly reached over to kiss him on the lips.

"Good. Well. I'm glad. Thanks” he was so silly. He himself was the one who started the conversation and he didn't know what to do now. Baekhyun just rested his head on his chest, almost hiding from Chanyeol's loving gaze "now go to sleep"

"Have sweet dreams"

"You too…"

"Not as sweet as you"

"Oh, shut up"

Cute, so cute. Chanyeol hugged him tight, trying to warm his icy body while they slept. Ah, they were such a strange combination.

━━✧♛✧━━

As Baekhyun promised, they went out on another date the next day. It wasn't as long as their first date as the day was nice, with several people flocked to the beach, practically filling the bar at lunchtime, Baek wouldn't dare leave Minseok and Jongdae alone on such a busy day, so Chanyeol had to hold on and wait until 5, when his shift ended.

But he did not wait much longer, he went to pick him up from work just at check-out time and then his second date started

"Let's go swimming"

"Swimming?"

"Yes" Chanyeol nodded a couple of times, a little excited; he hadn't had a chance to play in the water or swim a bit with him while they were both at the castle, and these last few days they'd been acting human enough to allow themselves to go to the beach for a bit of fun; "we can go to the rocks on the beach and from there to the water, come on, we won’t go far from the coast... No one will see us"

"Okay, we can do that" Baekhyun agreed a little excited, although he went swimming on his own sometimes and had even gone with Jongdae and Jongin, it was the first time he would do it with Chanyeol.

Without thinking much more they went home just to make some sandwiches and collect towels to dry off after swimming, as well as other clothes to change afterwards. They also prepared some drinks, thinking of having a picnic when they got out of the water.

And once everything was ready, they walked to the beach.

They left their things a little hidden spot among the rocks, not wanting someone to steal them while they were away from the shore. Then they just had to strip naked and jump straight into the water before someone saw them.

It was a lot of fun, first they laughed and congratulated each other on their success in sneaking into the water without anyone seeing them; then the games began almost automatically.

Tag game, the hide-and-seek, stunts, fishing... They played to see who befriended the biggest fish, although Baekhyun lost when Chanyeol appeared attracting a rather large shark. Where he had come from, or how he managed to befriend him so quickly was still a mystery, but Baekhyun didn't even want to get close to it. He simply admitted defeat and let go of the pair of stingrays that had found.

Both princes were a long way from the coast, probably a couple of kilometers, but that wasn't a problem. Their tail allowed them to swim quickly, and it would take only a couple of minutes to get back to the beach if necessary.

They spent a couple of hours diving along the seabed, hiding from any diver they saw, even playing pranks on some by sending small fish to disturb them.

At the end they decided to swim by the surface simply to watch the sunset. From this point on the sea it was much better, just the sun hiding on the horizon without any cloud around it. Everything had taken on an orange hue and it almost seemed like they were both dreaming.

"So did you like our second date?"

"I really liked it" Baekhyun smiled, moving a little closer to him, leaning on Chanyeol's body like he was a solid rock on the surface.

"Did you like it more or less than the first one?"

"I would say they both have their charm" the young prince winked at him and stroked his cheek a little. In this position their tails were touching, their bodies were practically glued together, both holding each other to float on the surface of the sea. Baekhyun raised his arms to wrap around them around the prince’s shoulders, pushing himself up a little so that their heads were at the same height. Chanyeol smiled and held his waist to maintain the position.

"I like being with you," Baekhyun muttered, bringing their faces closer until their noses touched. If they wanted to kiss, he would only have to move his head a little more forward, because their lips were almost brushing each other… Just a little more.

"I like being with you too..." Chanyeol mumbled, tilting his head a little, allowing their lips to lightly touch "I like you, in general"

Baekhyun felt himself shudder, a chill ran through his entire body from his lower back to his neck. He felt like he couldn't breathe right now, as his mind was busy analyzing the way the prince's lips touched his.

"I like you too" Baekhyun said as he let the air out of his lungs, relaxing. Chanyeol squeezed his waist a little tighter, marking his hands on his flesh as both bodies molded perfectly into each other.

And then they kissed, again.

Baekhyun thought he shouldn't even be surprised by the taste of Chanyeol's lips, or how they felt pressing on his. He shouldn't even feel weird how their tongues brushed, or how they both clung almost desperately to each other.

But it was weird, it was new, it was exciting. Every time he kissed the prince he felt like it was his first time. They had kissed countless times in the past few days, so many that it shouldn't be weird to feel Chanyeol bring him closer and put their lips together, but there was always that hint of arousal inside Baekhyun that would make him blush and gasp in surprise as he felt the kiss intensify.

They parted only to take some air, just their lips, because there was not a millimeter of true physical separation. They looked into each other's eyes, panting slowly as they tried to regulate their heartbeat with no real success.

"The possibility of us being soulmates... It just feels more and more real" Baekhyun muttered that as Chanyeol lowered his head a little to caress his neck with the tip of his nose, just before placing a kiss on his shoulder.

"So you want to check it out?"

"I'm still not sure..." Baekhyun sighed as he slowly stroked the hair on the back of Chanyeol’s neck "I still have to think about it"

"Don't pressure yourself, I can wait for an answer"

"Thank you..." he sighed in relief, letting himself rest against the prince’s warm body.

Soon they were kissing again, not as deep as the first time, but just as overwhelming. The next kisses were shorter, more innocent, like speaking without real words. Both together, in the middle of the sea, kissing while the sun hid on the horizon. They didn't stop until the moon had actually risen and the sky was dark, then they realized how long they had been there.

They laughed at themselves, a little embarrassed that they got carried away, but was anyone going to blame them? Of course not.

In the end, Baekhyun generated a small ball of light that pointed the way back to the coast. The beach was empty, the families and people who came to enjoy the afternoon sun had left at sunset. That made things much easier for them, as they didn’t have to worry about someone seeing them climb the rocks in their mermaid form to dry off and change back to human.

They were even able to pack their picnic in the middle of the beach and have dinner together without anyone else bothering them. It was intimate, but nice. They ate quietly, lay down on their towels and talked about the stars that were clear in the sky.

And, of course, they kissed more. Excuse them! They couldn't help it. At some point they both ended up in the sand together, Baekhyun sitting on Chanyeol's lap kissing as if their life was based entirely on it, as if they were both the only people alive right now.

They came home very late, Kyungsoo even scolded them a bit for being out all day, but it was worth it. They went to bed with a happy smile and, of course, ready to kiss a bit more before sleeping.

Baekhyun tried not to think too much, but the more he saw Chanyeol, the more he freaked out thinking about how much he appreciated him and how quickly he was getting used to their relationship. But he would push those thoughts away. Another day. Maybe in the morning. The future Baekhyun would deal with them, not him.

The next morning the day was more or less the same as the previous one. He got up, showered, dressed, and went down to the bar, leaving Chanyeol still sleeping in his bed; he didn't blame him, he woke up too early, plus Baekhyun knows he would be down for breakfast in a while

And of course, about an hour after opening in the morning, the prince appeared at the door asking for a hot coffee.

"Good morning" Baekhyun greeted him as he turned to start making coffee. All coffees were prepared in the same way, without too many details that could waste time; Chanyeol's coffee was different, he tried hard to keep the cup clean and even put the milk manually to make a white heart in the middle. Baekhyun didn't even know if the other prince had the knowledge that his coffee was _special_ but the younger also didn't feel it was worth mentioning.

"Good morning" Chanyeol smiled at him just before drinking the coffee, noting the beautiful heart that was floating in the center. He was a little sad about drinking it, but that's what coffee is supposed to be for; "do I not get a good morning kiss?"

"You can have the good morning coffee" Baekhyun blushed a little, but smiled "I'm working now, we'll see about kisses later"

"Yes sir, as you wish"

They had become comfortable with each other, anyone could see it. They chatted quietly as Chanyeol read the newspaper and Baekhyun walked around the bar cleaning the tables and handing out new orders for anyone that came along.

Even Minseok, who was practically locked in the kitchen taking inventory of the freezer could notice the chemistry between them. And the cat was just listening to them, he wasn't even looking at them. He couldn't help but have mixed feelings in himself, happy for his friend, and at the same time worried. He hoped that both of them as adults could resolve the relationship they had without ending up getting hurt, because from what the hybrid had heard about Chanyeol's stay on dry land, that little thing they had going on wouldn’t last long.

"They say it's going to rain today," Baekhyun mentioned disinterestedly, glancing out of the window. Chanyeol muttered "if it rains maybe I can go out earlier, there won't be people on the beach, so it won't be busy"

"I'm sure Minseok will let you out if today isn’t going to be busy"

Baekhyun sighed, nodding "I hope so, but I'll end up owing him so many hours... I hope I'm not giving him extra work"

"Boy, let me remind you that until a few months ago it was just Jongdae and me" a voice was heard from the kitchen just before seeing the hybrid leave, taking off his apron, which meant that he had finished moving food between the freezers and the inventory was done.

"But now it's me as well, and Jongdae doesn't work at the front of the bar… I appreciate you letting me leave early or skip a few hours, but I don't want to end up being a bother to you either"

"Don't be an idiot" Minseok came over to pat his arm "you could go now and it wouldn't matter, do you see the sky? All gray, no one will come. Maybe I would even appreciate it if you left "

"What?"

The cat pointed to the door of Jongdae's office, right next to the kitchen. Then he winked.

“If the place is empty… Well, you wouldn’t understand”

Baekhyun sighed as he flinched slightly, disgusting. Chanyeol just laughed, setting the finished coffee cup aside, just like the newspaper.

"So when can I rob Baekhyun today?"

"You can take him right now!"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, just go" Minseok even walked them to the door, pointing to the street through the windows on either side of the front door "have fun guys; even though Baekhyun owes me many hours, I'm sure we'll find a way for him to pay them back at some point"

The same hybrid opened the door for them while practically kicking them out of the restaurant. Baekhyun couldn't believe they were taking him out of his workplace like that; although at the same time he couldn't help laughing once they were both gone. Chanyeol didn't even pay for his coffee.

"He is such a strange person" the young man denied, and the other had to agree with him.

“I think he feels the need to let you out” Chanyeol shrugged “a couple of days ago he told me something about his hybrid instincts, although I don't even know how cat work. You are his friend and he is trying to take care of you, like everyone here"

Baekhyun looked inside the window for a moment, watching Minseok finish cleaning a table that he had started cleaning himself.

"He is a good friend"

"Yes he is, it gives good advice, a little weird" Chanyeol nodded and Baekhyun agreed "now, if you have the day off... Will you have time for our third date or not, my _almost_ boyfriend?"

"Oh, I don't know, I'll look into my busy schedule" Baek pretended to think for the next 3 seconds or so. Then he launched himself into the prince's arms, definitely taking Chanyeol by surprise. A sweet surprise, but they almost fell because of the ambush of the boy's attack "I think I have a space for our third date, would you like to join me?"

"Oh, it would be a shame if I didn't accompany you on our date" both princes laughed before slowly breaking away from the hug "come on, we have the whole day ahead of us. Do you want to go to a specific place? Or you prefer to walk aimlessly and we'll see something"

"I actually had something in mind" Baekhyun mentioned as they both walked towards the back part of the bar to go back home, after all, he had to put on some normal clothes; he wasn't going to walk around using his clean uniform.

"Where?"

“It is a place that I like, near the beach; I can prepare something to eat and have a picnic”

"Sounds amazing" Chanyeol said with a smile, as he passed inside the house "although anything that implies spending time with you sounds amazing"

"Oh, you so silly" Baekhyun laughed as he approached the door of his room "I'm going to change and then you can help me make lunch... It won't be long!"

Sure enough, it didn't take long. The prince emerged just five minutes later from the room, wearing simple trousers and a T-shirt, plus comfortable shoes. Maybe they were going to walk, Chanyeol thought. He didn’t mind at all where would they go, so he wasn't overly concerned.

They prepared simple food to bring to the picnic, just some sandwiches, salad, and some juices to drink; it really was a simple but enjoyable meal, Chanyeol knew it would be delicious just by looking at it.

And so they ventured to the mysterious location of their third date. First they went down to the beach, followed a walk that ran through the entirety of it and even when the walk ended, they continued on. Baekhyun guided them through the paths that crossed the forest that surrounded the beach and the city, until they both reached a clear area, right at the edge of a group of cliffs that led directly to the sea.

"Sometimes I come here when I'm bored, the sky is so beautiful and clear... It would be sad if you didn’t see it" Baekhyun told him once they arrived; they weren't exactly on the edge, but a little further (and safe) in an area with a little tall grass "I could say this is my secret place"

"It is a beautiful place, I imagine it will be even more beautiful on sunny days... Today is a bit gray, but I suppose that in this way it also has its charm"

"The waves are prettier on gray days"

"Yes, I agree with you"

They ended up setting up their picnic amid the tall grasses. They placed a blanket on the floor and a small backpack with the food in the center of it; finally, they laid down each one on one side of the blanket, looking up at the sky.

The company was nice and they didn't have much to do, so they rested and looked at the clouds for a while. They laughed at his own wacky suggestions, like the time Chanyeol insisted that he was _totally_ seeing a rabbit in a cluster of clouds, while Baekhyun insisted that it was a turtle, not a rabbit. In the end the cloud ended up moving away from them thanks to the breeze and they couldn’t even reach an agreement of what it was.

After a while, they ate the sandwiches and drank their juices, completely emptying their backpack of supplies. In general, this date was much quieter than the other two. The two princes needed this day, just enjoying their company and relaxing while chatting or joking, lying on the old blanket, watching the sky and the minutes passing by quickly.

"Did you feel that?"

"Feel that?" Chanyeol asked as Baekhyun sat down. Oh.

"It's raining!"

"Oh shit!"

It was abrupt, both of them hurried as much as possible to put all their things away as soon as possible, but the rain still caught them suddenly. Although the day was gray, they did not expect it to rain so much, and so suddenly. They wouldn't even have time to go back to town without getting completely soaked.

"Follow me!" Baekhyun yelled as he tried to cover his head with the backpack, trying not to get so wet "there is a house near here, I think it's empty, we can go there"

"I'm following you," Chanyeol mentioned in a hurry, as he covered himself with his hoodie. A covered house sounded great in that situation.

Then, they both ran back into the thickest forest area.

It took them only a couple of minutes to find the house, but in that time the rain had intensified considerably. When they got inside they were both totally soaked, with their hair dripping and their clothes all damp.

They allowed themselves a couple of seconds to rest once they were inside, panting heavily after the sudden rush they had to face. Baekhyun was leaning against the door, his backpack on the floor beside him, while Chanyeol leaned against the empty wall right next to it. They looked into each other's eyes, saying nothing, just concentrating on catching their breath.

"That was sudden" Chanyeol said, Baekhyun nodded before taking a deep breath, "good thing you knew about this place, it would have really been a problem if we had to run back with all the rain"

"Yes, it was really a coincidence" the young man separated from the house, looking around.

They walked around the house, exploring a bit. It was obviously an abandoned house, it barely furniture, and the one that was left was in a pretty bad state; the door did not properly have a lock, just a padlock from the inside that was open, probably someone had forced it at some point. But other than that, the windows weren't broken and there didn't appear to be any leaks or moisture stains, so they would be safe from the rain until it stopped.

It was a small place, a cabin in the middle of nowhere, probably someone used it as a vacation spot and had stopped coming for a few years. It still had some furniture, a table with a couple of chairs in the kitchen, a sofa in the living room with a coffee table, and a bed with its nightstand and closet in what seemed to be the only room in the house.

They also found some cleaning products in the kitchen, a broom and a mop, so they decided to clean up the dust in the living room a bit simply to feel a little more comfortable in what would be their stay in the house.

Now the only problem they had was the fact that they were completely socked.

"I'm freezing..." Baekhyun muttered as he shuddered, his usually cold body temperature didn't help, as the water stuck to his clothes was just freezing. That way he would only be able to turn his shirt into a giant ice cube. Chanyeol didn't have that problem, with his body temperature so high he hardly felt wet clothes; the heat even evaporated the water more quickly.

"Take off your clothes"

"What-"

"Come on, I can't let you freeze like this" the prince scolded him, "you could get sick, or worst... You don't have to take it all off"

“And how is that going to help? If I take off my clothes I will definitely freeze"

"Well come here" Chanyeol made the first move. He went to the sofa, and standing in front of it he took off the sweatshirt and T-shirt he was wearing, putting them aside in the coffee table; "You forget that your almost boyfriend is like a heater"

Baekhyun blushed, still hugging himself. The last nights they had slept together and he knew very well how nice and warm the other prince was; but being fully conscious while hugging him semi-naked was...

"Don't think so much, just come here" Chanyeol sighed as he spread his arms. Baekhyun decided to take the advice and just do what his instincts asked, and currently they were asking him to go to his boyfriend’s arms. He took off his shirt and hesitated a bit, but ended up taking off his pants and socks as well. His underwear stayed on though.

"Well, is my almost boyfriend going to hug me now?" Baekhyun asked sheepishly as he approached him, and Chanyeol’s big arms quickly wrapped his entire body.

"You are frozen!" he gasped as he pulled Baekhyun against his chest, holding him by the waist to warm his back with his hands.

"And you're still so warm" Baekhyun practically melted, squeezing the prince’s waist a little between his thighs, feeling the heat quickly begin to flow through his body. He would never really get to be warm, since he was cold-blooded, but his human body was much weaker and his own temperature could easily freeze him; "you are so nice, I could hug you all day"

"What is stopping you?" Chanyeol laughed and Baekhyun felt the vibrations of his laughter directly against his cheek. So nice.

They both ended up on the couch which they had dusted off a bit previously, with Baekhyun comfortably sitting on Chanyeol's lap, as he hugged him to his chest and rubbed his back with his big, warm palms. It was so intimate, yet so comfortable; the young man thought it would be embarrassing, but it felt natural and comforting. Baekhyun liked this very much.

"Hey, Baek..."

"Hmm?"

"Do you want to know what my fortune cookie said?"

Oh. Oh, that was interesting. The prince raised his head a little, enough that he could look at the other as he spoke, and nodded energetically.

"What did the cookie say?"

" _There are many possibilities, go where your heart dictates"_ Chanyeol muttered under his breath, almost whispering close to his ear, as he settled Baekhyun further on his lap. Then Baekhyun rested his head on the other’s chest, leaving his ear against the skin, listening to the heartbeat slowly in the other prince's chest.

"And what does your heart tell you?"

"My heart..." they both knew the answer even before Chanyeol said anything. Their hearts beat in unison, the two were walking the same course. The answer was clear. "My heart tells me to follow you, Baek, that I want to be close to you"

"When I'm with you I feel like _home_ " Baekhyun said while hugging him a little tighter; “even before I saw you I felt like I knew you. I thought it was because of how much everyone was talking about you, the famous prince of the warm seas, but no… Chanyeol, you are my family, you are my _home_ "

They looked into each other's eyes and felt time stop.

They were soulmates, there was no doubt, they did not even need a mark to confirm. They both had it clear.

"My soulmate," Chanyeol muttered as he held his cheeks. Baekhyun let out a nervous laugh, he was excited.

"Yeol, my soulmate..."

They kissed, they kissed again, over and over. And another. They kissed until neither of them had any more air in their lungs and they only parted to breathe and laugh with happiness.

Everything was so real, they were both together now, and they would always be because destiny wanted it that way.

"What are we going to do now?"

“I'll stay with you” Chanyeol assured “we can stay here, or go anywhere, or go back to the sea… Not to the castle, I know you don't want that; but we could go to some other ocean where your parents can't find you. I will tell my family that I don't want to take over the kingdom and I will come looking for you-“ He spoke very fast, and his plans were definitely crazy, but Baekhyun couldn't help but laugh and nod.

"You don't want to go back to the castle?"

"Why would I want to go back to the castle?" the prince asked before kissing him again “I am not interested in being the king if I am not with you; I will go wherever you want to go. You're right, these last few days I felt more alive than in the rest of my life"

Baekhyun couldn't believe it, it was all too good. His heart sank a little at the crazy idea, the possibility that Chanyeol could actually stay with him.

"Baek, I love you"

The young man felt tears run rapidly down his cheeks. Chanyeol wiped them with his thumb before holding his cheeks.

“I love you too, Yeol. I love you, my God, I love you…"

Perhaps destiny was real. And then maybe they would both be allowed to be happy.

"As humans would say... Do you want to be my boyfriend?" Chanyeol asked right before feeling Baekhyun pat him on the arm, laughing.

“Yes, yes… It's official anyways, right? This is our third date, so you can officially be my boyfriend"

They both laughed. Ah, it was so silly, and at the same time so pretty. The two of them knew very well that they were soulmates, maybe they always knew, they just had to realize it. No matter what happens, soulmates are destined to find themselves in any situation.

When they met, they weren't Chanyeol and Baekhyun. Just a couple of guys who followed directions, it wasn't them, they couldn't choose, they were just puppets from a bigger system. Now they are just themselves, their own sense of humor, their own ideas… They could go anywhere they wanted, they could talk about whatever they wanted. And there was no pressure whatsoever, because both of them were comfortable enough with each other.

A couple of days ago, when Kyungsoo and Chanyeol sneaked into the bar and surprised Baekhyun… That was the first time they really saw each other, without the strings of major commitments that would stop them from doing whatever they wanted. That was the time that destiny made them meet, the wedding was never destined to happen, because soulmates were united with the heart, not with a ceremony.

"So we are sure that we are soulmates?" Baekhyun asked as he broke away from Chanyeol's short kisses. The other shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure, but I mean... There's only one way to really know"

"Just one way..." Baekhyun repeated in a low voice, as he settled further on the other's lap. Well, the situation was a bit compromising, knowing that that only way was basically to explode their magic while they had “carnal contact".

Were they going to do it?

Baekhyun blushed, feeling his own heart bouncing off his chest. Suddenly the whole atmosphere had become more intimate, although not uncomfortable. Just him on Chanyeol's lap, in an abandoned house that they wouldn’t leave until the rain stopped... Only the two of them, away from the world, from civilization, in their own little loving space.

Baekhyun didn't know if it was the excitement of the moment, or all the feelings he'd been swallowing for the past few days, but he thought it was the perfect situation. The younger honestly couldn't imagine a better place. Well, maybe a real bed would help, and a little less dust would be ideal… But the idea of being with Chanyeol in that sense was so new, so exciting, that he almost felt the excitement run through his body just thinking about it.

"We do it... I mean, if you want to" Baekhyun spoke quickly, blushing. His body was no longer cold and his skin felt warm against the other's.

"Are you sure?"

"Totally"

“Completely and totally sure? One hundred percent? You promise that?”

Baekhyun chuckled and then brought his hands to Chanyeol's cheeks. He stroked them slowly just before approaching him, giving him a long, deep kiss on the lips that left them both gasping for air.

"I'm sure" the young man assured him as he brought their foreheads together, looking into his eyes "please, Chanyeol, take me?"

He didn't have to ask twice. Chanyeol was going to take him, and he was going to make sure they both enjoyed this moment so much that they would never forget it.

They kissed slowly again. The princes weren't in any rush, they could be there all day, no one was going to interrupt them anyways. Their lips met as if they had been molded to perfection, both used to each other's taste and movements. Chanyeol ran his tongue down his lower lip and Baekhyun couldn't help but moaning as he parted his mouth and let both tongues brush carelessly. It was so good, the intimacy felt so nice.

Neither of them knew much about human sex, other than basic anatomy and some videos they had found here or there. As princes they were forced to study the anatomy and reproduction of different species, but no one had ever explained exactly what to do if they were ever in this kind of situation. And yet it was so easy, as if his hands were attracted like magnets.

Chanyeol caressed Baekhyun's chest in the middle of the kiss, hearing him gasp as his thumbs brushed near his nipples. So he decided to tease them a little. He continued to devour his lips as he appropriately played with the boy's pretty nipples, who squirmed deliciously on his lap. He squeezed them between his fingers, turned them, stroked them in circles. They were so hard, so cold to the touch of his warm hands.

And Baekhyun felt like he was burning at Chanyeol's attention, wherever he ran his hands… Everything was overwhelming, like he was constantly under the boiling water of the shower. He had to pull away from the kiss so he could moan freely as Chanyeol rotated his nipples between his fingers; although perhaps it was a bad idea, because seconds later Baekhyun had the prince's mouth pressed against one of his hard nipples. First the hot breath against his sensitive skin, then the hard, slippery tongue licking it carefully.

Baekhyun arched his back and pressed his chest even more against Chanyeol's hungry mouth, as he focused on licking and sucking; being fed by the moans and gasps that the young man constantly let out.

He alternated between his mouth and his hand. Once Chanyeol felt that the nipple was moist and warm enough against his tongue he turned to the other, and that was until they were both red, hard, and swollen. Baekhyun gasped, tears in his eyes as he felt the cold air in the room against his wet nipples. The cold in his body only made everything better, making them even more sensitive to the touch.

"So pretty..." Chanyeol muttered in a low, grave voice, as he cupped his chest and pressed his thumbs lightly on the nipples, just before rolling them in circles. He enjoyed watching Baekhyun squirm, so cute, with red cheeks and arched back, hesitating between his pulling away from the overwhelming touch or approaching for more.

"Yeol..." the young man murmured as he pressed Chanyeol’s hips a little between his thighs, feeling the excitement run through his own body. It wasn't the first time he had touched himself as a human, and Baekhyun was probably a bit more _experienced_ in sex between them; even though he was still a virgin, he had some more experience living around humans for the past few months. So Baekhyun decided to take the initiative and guide them both in this situation.

He took Chanyeol's hands in his and pulled them away from his chest slowly, as he approached to kiss him. The prince thought that they would continue with the long and sensual kisses from before, however, Baekhyun had other plans. He didn't focus on his lips for long, just a couple of short kisses just before his lips worked their way down to his neck, brushing against the smooth skin until they bumped into the prince's collarbone. He went back to slow, wet kisses, lightly sucking on the skin, and even nibbling a bit on his way around his neck and collarbone.

Chanyeol groaned, low and deep, as he moved his hands up to the other's thighs. He squeezed them lightly, massaging the soft, cold flesh as he felt Baekhyun spread his legs wider to grip their hips closer. It was unbelievable for him to see how the situation had changed so suddenly, but god it didn't feel right. Baek's cold lips and tongue against his neck gave him chills; he was burning inside and the icy touches of the other, contrary as it sounded, were extremely hot.

The young man continued on his kissing path once he felt that Chanyeol's neck had received enough attention, only to continue going down through his warm body. He trailed kisses down his chest until he couldn't bend down anymore, and only then Baekhyun decided to get up off his lap.

Chanyeol was about to complain when Baekhyun's weight left him, and then he saw him kneel on the ground in front of his spread legs. The image of the prince had his head spinning, what was he going to do? The older brought a hand to the cheek of the boy kneeling in front of him as he spread his legs a little wider, leaving him as much space as possible to stay between them comfortably; meanwhile, Baekhyun was back on his kissing path. He continued from where he left him on his chest, licking and kissing along his abdomen, until he inevitably reached the hem of his pants.

“ _Do it without teeth, breathe through your nose, and don't taste; just swallow_ ” he remembered the words that Minseok used to say when he talked about blowjobs, as he called them, was he really going to do it? He could see Chanyeol's bulge in his pants right in front of his face and his throat closed as he swallowed hard. Baekhyun was going to do it. Yes.

He brought his hands to the edge of the pants and pulled them down to his knees, letting them fall to the floor without paying any more attention. Chanyeol took it upon himself to lift his legs a little and push the pants away from there giving them little kicks until they were away on the floor. Baekhyun was so close, he had the prince’s hard cock right in front of his face, and the only thing separating him from it was that stupid underwear.

A little more nervous, he pulled down the underwear. Only up to the middle of his thighs, because then the cock jumped hard until it slammed into Chanyeol's abdomen. God, it looked so good. He had never thought of sucking a cock before, but right now he could see the charm it had.

He started slowly, just with his hand. He let the underwear slide down Chanyeol's legs as his right hand circled the base of the heavy shaft. He moved his fist a little, up and down, exactly as he would do when he was all alone. Meanwhile he looked the prince directly in the eyes, filling himself with his reactions, his expressions and his heavy gasps. Baekhyun felt like he was doing a good job.

After a couple of movements with his hand up and down, knowing that Chanyeol was enjoying everything he did, he dared to bring his face closer. Baekhyun stuck out his tongue tentatively, giving the dripping tip of his cock a kiss; everything was new, unexplored, and he was careful. The other prince moaned, separating his hand from the other’s cheek just to hold his hair lightly, without pulling it, just to have something to hold onto to remind himself that everything was real.

Baekhyun found himself enjoying sucking cock soon after, although he really wasn't doing much. He would put the tip around his lips and suck lightly, just before giving the head a couple of kisses. Meanwhile he used his hand to stimulate the rest of the length, collecting his own saliva between his fingers to facilitate friction. Chanyeol gasped, continuously moaning every time he felt the suction of the young man's pretty lips against the tip of his cock or the sinful brush of his hand slowly going up and down.

"God, Baek-" Chanyeol gasped and closed his eyes, totally lost in the pleasure. His cock was hard, swollen and red, yearning to be able to come soon; and that's what would happen if Baekhyun didn't get away from him soon, "wait-"

"Hm?" the young man asked as he pulled his head away from the cock a bit, with a trickle of saliva still connecting it with his lips "what's wrong?"

"Let me do something too, Baek" Chanyeol gasped as he tried to compose himself, slowly pulling Baekhyun away from the position he was in, pulling his body a little to make him get up; "come here"

The prince did what he was asked to, rising from his spot on the floor to sit back on Chanyeol's warm lap. They shared a dirty and sensual kiss, slow, with a lot of tongue and even more saliva. The prince could taste himself in the other’s mouth, a salty taste that hadn't been there before, and got if it wasn’t hot.

"Do you know what we have to do?" Baekhyun asked slowly as he parted his lips a little, just enough to be able to speak.

"I can get an idea, but you seem to know more about it..."

"I've seen a fair amount of videos of humans doing the things we do now..." Baekhyun mumbled as he stroked his cheeks "you... are going to go inside me, so I have to, um- stretch?"

"Stretch?"

The prince nodded quietly as he slowly took Chanyeol's hand. Baekhyun raised his arm until the hand was leveled with his face and he stuck out his tongue a little, giving almost kitten licks around his fingers.

"With your fingers, Chanyeol... please stretch me?"

The prince took a deep breath, feeling like he was choking when he saw the boy's pretty lips encircling his fingers. But he nodded. Of course, he would stretch him. Baekhyun smiled at him a little just before licking his fingers seriously, soaking them until they were shiny and slick, with saliva running down the length of his palm. That should be enough.

Meanwhile, Baek maneuvered a bit to remove his own underwear. With the help of Chanyeol's free hand holding him firmly in place, he managed to pull it off completely, letting it fall to the side of the couch. Then both of them were totally naked, defenseless in front of each other.

"Are you ready?" Chanyeol asked just to make sure, as he rubbed his wet fingers together a bit, making sure to spread well all the saliva.

"Yes, please..." Baekhyun settled further, his legs firmly resting on each side of the other's body, standing upright with the strength of his thighs "I want your fingers, Yeol"

Chanyeol took a deep breath before running his hand between the boy's legs, slowly approaching his hole. He felt it first with a finger, moistening the dry edge with saliva before applying a little pressure and beginning the stretch.

Baekhyun gasped, the finger was so hot against his cold walls that he couldn't help but shake as he felt the stretch. He felt like he was burning in the best possible way, warming himself from the inside, completely melting against Chanyeol's warm body. The other prince held him, wrapping his free arm completely around him so that they were both glued against each other; he let Baekhyun rest against his own body while his hand did the rest of the work.

He moved his finger to the third knuckle and now it was totally evolved by the cold and damp walls of the young man. Chanyeol didn't know how much time was the "standard" or even if there was any rhythm to follow, so he just decided to go slow but safe. He penetrated his hole little by little, alternating between the second and third knuckle, moving it slightly to make sure it didn't hurt. Baekhyun just panted, holding tightly to the other's shoulders as he relaxed his muscles and let the thick fingers spread him apart.

Minutes later Chanyeol had three wet fingers inside Baekhyun, who was shaking and writhing at the overwhelming sensation of feeling full. He was so open, wet and hot… His hips moved desperately, riding the other prince's fingers in search of intensifying the sensation, as Chanyeol moved his wrist to meet the other's movements. Baekhyun gasped and moaned, unable to contain himself, trying to ride the excitement as much as he could.

"God-" the young man gasped, breathless, leaning his head against the other's shoulder. Chanyeol leaned down to kiss his neck while curling his fingers a little; he had Baekhyun practically milking his own prostate, and god if he didn't find it hot.

"Baek… do you think that's it?" the older prince asked as he spread soft kisses along his neck, up to his shoulder where he sucked without shame. Baekhyun moaned.

"Yes" he nodded hotly, as he impaled himself on the thick fingers, practically collapsing against Chanyeol's body "yes yes... Let’s do it, please" he let out a ragged breath as he raised his head to look at him in the eyes "I want to be with you, Yeol"

Chanyeol gulped and nodded just before bringing his lips back together in a deep and almost desperate kiss, full of warm emotions, which could perfectly sum up the situation they were in. He pulled his hand away, slowly pulling his fingers out of Baekhyun's hole, noticing how he practically clung to them as if he didn't want to let them go.

"Come on" the older prince breathed against his lips before leaving another short kiss "finally... let's join together"

Chanyeol held the young man by the waist with both hands, although he slowly lowered them to hold Baekhyun's ass cheeks. He held his body from there, handling it until he could feel the prince's gaping hole with the tip of his cock. They were so close, their hearts were beating in unison. Just a little more.

He strained his legs to move his hips forward, feeling his cock begin to enter the greedy hole easily. Baekhyun little by little let himself drop in the cock as well. They fit together perfectly, as if their bodies had been made for each other. It was slow and pleasant, both of them feeling the stretch and the temperature shock of their bodies… It was almost a magical experience.

"I'm in..." Chanyeol muttered, more to himself than to his partner, totally mesmerized by the sensation of his cock choked between Baekhyun's narrow walls. The other was not much better, still getting used to the burn from the stretch, panting and shivering as his hands gripped the sofa as if his life depended on it.

"Baek…" the prince called out to him in a low voice once his cock was fully buried in the hot hole, as he moved his hands around the smooth skin until they were firm against his waist. Baekhyun muttered in response, he still felt like breathing was a bit difficult, he didn’t even want to try speaking. Chanyeol just came over to kiss him, first his cheeks, then the tip of his nose, and lastly his lips; "it feels so good… it's amazing, oh-"

"Yeah... yeah, it's- so good" Baekhyun replied while huffing, feeling his body really warm despite his current temperature. It took him a couple of minutes to get used to the length inside him, although it wasn't uncomfortable, it was… strange. He went for short movements first, straining his legs to move his hips slightly up and down; they both gasped at the same time after that small movement, short, but intense.

They ended up setting their own pace, letting Baekhyun move up and down, with Chanyeol helping him steady himself by holding him against his body. They were by no means fast or wild movements, it was just the two of them trying to enjoy and lengthen the moment as long as possible. Baek clung to the other prince in an almost desperate embrace, gasping against his neck as he impaled himself on his cock, over and over again, chasing their orgasm.

The two princes were on edge, hot, sweaty, panting. In the room you could only hear the echo of both, the moans and whispers of romantic words that came from their lips in the middle of deep breaths. They had never felt so close as now, letting themselves be carried away by the most primal instincts, love, and passion.

"I love you" Baekhyun gasped against other's lips, feeling an especially deep thrust that struck directly against his prostate. He couldn't help groaning in a broken voice, arching his back.

"I love you too" Chanyeol replied just seconds later as he began to move his hips to meet the other prince's movements. They couldn't wait much longer, now they were just chasing orgasm.

The young man moved one of his hands to his own cock, hard against his stomach, releasing precum almost desperately. He began to masturbate himself to the rhythm of the thrusts and quickly the orgasm began to form in his lower belly. Baekhyun's legs were shaking, he felt chills all over his body as his hand tugged hard on his own cock and his hole tightened around Chanyeol. He couldn't take it anymore.

Strings of thick cum painted their bodies as Baekhyun came, moaning and arching as he milked the orgasm from Chanyeol's cock. The other prince could only throw his head back as he moaned, staining the young man's interior with semen. Baekhyun cried, let out several tears as he felt the hot semen inside him, burning, warming his insides so pleasantly that his mind went blank.

But that was not all.

Their hearts were beating wildly, in the same rhythm. Soon, they felt a comforting heat on their chest, followed by a burn that took their breath away. There it was... The mark. Right over their heart, a rune had been tattooed on both of them.

All that matters now was that they were indeed soulmates.

Although they already knew it before, the confirmation is only the closest step to the realization. God, they really were. Baekhyun laughed in sheer excitement, feeling tears of happiness wetting his cheeks. Chanyeol held his cheeks as he reached out to kiss him, deep and slow; his soulmate, his other half.

"I love you so much" the older prince murmured as he filled his lips with loving kisses, Baekhyun could only keep chuckling as he tried to reciprocate all the kisses the best he could.

This has probably been the most overwhelming moment of his life. The moment he realized he really loved Park Chanyeol.

"I love you too..." he whispered softly with a smile, while bringing his foreheads together "you have no idea how much I love you"


	4. Arctic

They don't even know when the rain ended, or exactly how long they spent in that abandoned house, but when they decided it was time to go back into the real world all their clothes were completely dry and the moon was shining in the dark sky. They weren't in a hurry, they took all the time in the world, after all, the one-week limit to see each other no longer existed: Chanyeol was going to stay with Baekhyun.

Both princes were walking through the forest back to the city, holding hands, and with happy smiles adorning their faces. Perhaps it was the marks that burned on his chest, or the knowledge that they were soulmates, but suddenly they both felt like they were a perfect match. Chanyeol's hand fully envolved Baekhyun's smaller hand, keeping it safe and warm. Even their heights were perfect, Baek could calmly rest his head on the other’s shoulder, while Yeol could lean down and rest his cheek on the other's head. It was so comfortable, as if they were indeed made for each other.

When they finally got back to town and made it to the bar, they weren't even going to go inside. It was late, at this time the people there would be partying, dancing and drinking; and they had decided that tonight it was better to just rest. Too many emotions in the day to add more.

So they definitely weren't expecting to walk past the bar door and have Sehun run after them like crazy.

The fairy opened the door suddenly, causing both princes to jump to the side to prevent getting hit by the door that was about to hit them. The fairy stood there, panting, holding himself with his hands on his knees while the other two looked at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was, a little.

"Sehun? Is everything alright?"

"It’s not!" The fairy jumped, spreading his arms in the air dramatically; they didn't know if it was a real serious matter, or he was just dramatizing “where were you? I've been looking for you all night, Jongin said you were out, I-"

"Sehun, calm down" Baekhyun spoke calmly as he approached the boy, touching one of his shoulders "did something happen? Come on, you're drunk"

Sehun just looked at him with narrowed eyes. Then the gaze shifted to Chanyeol. And so on indefinitely until he let out a sigh from deep in his chest.

"I'm drunk, but that doesn't mean anything" he pulled away from Baekhyun, taking a step forward "I need to talk to both of you... It's serious, right now"

"We were going to go upstairs" Chanyeol mentioned pointing his hand upstairs "if it's that important we shouldn't talk about this in the middle of the street"

They all decided to go up to the house, and suddenly the calm atmosphere that the couple had created was completely ruined. Something important was happening, they both knew it; something was wrong with Sehun, because if the fairy was so nervous, he must have a good reason.

They quickly walked in, and when Baekhyun wanted to lock the door, the fairy stopped him. He grabbed his wrist and pulled it away, drawing himself closer to the door and whispering a few words under his breath just before he touched the lock. Then, the door started to glow.

"Did you lock the door?"

"Yes," Sehun muttered, out of breath; “as long as I'm in here, no one else can enter. Now let’s go, because we have a lot to talk about"

They walked diligently to the kitchen table and the three of them sat, the couple on one side and Sehun on the other. His aura was tense, and the atmosphere between everyone was even more so. The fairy kept his head down, scowling, making both princes wonder what was really going on.

And then he spoke, finally.

"So, you two are soulmates?"

The question caught them off guard, and it even took them a couple of seconds to process it, but both boys nodded. After all, it was Sehun the one who had explained everything they knew about soulmates, giving them “instructions” on how to find their own. Hell, Sehun probably already knew they were from the moment he saw them together.

"Yes" Chanyeol said aloud, as he moved his hand under the table to take Baekhyun's. They both intertwined their fingers as Sehun looked them in the eye, alternating between one and the other. Of course they are.

"I had a dream" the fairy said in a low voice, just before shaking his head "not a dream, rather... A premonition, a vision; whatever you want to call it. I saw it, I saw it all"

"What did you see?" this time it was Baekhyun who asked, a little scared.

Sehun clenched his fists.

“I saw the royal guard enter here. I saw how you fought against them, and how they ended up catching you; I saw how they took you both back to the sea. I saw how you reached the Antarctic Ocean... I saw the war"

"War?" Baekhyun covered his mouth with his hand, while firmly squeezing Chanyeol's hand in his own. No. No. That's what he didn't want “what kind of war?"

“Your parents, Baekhyun… They will do whatever” Sehun kept his brow furrowed “they found out that you and Chanyeol are together here; they think that you” he pointed out to the older prince "are a traitor, and that you tried to make Baekhyun leave so that the Antarctic Ocean is ruled by the Parks"

"But that's crazy!" Chanyeol claimed, hitting the table with his fist. Why? Why would they do it?

“It's their whole plan…” Sehun muttered shaking his head “it was always their plan, they let you come here so they could track down Baekhyun, and make you look like the culprit. The guard followed you, they've been following you for days; I felt them, and my dream confirmed everything"

"What is going to happen now?" Baekhyun asked, scared.

"They're going to come in here at any moment, they're going to take you back to the sea and the castle... Then they're going to say it's all a conspiracy by the Parks to take over the kingdom, that Chanyeol forced you to leave somehow, and when he went looking for you he just made sure you never come back to the kingdom... They will do everything, anything, so that you, Baekhyun, are a candidate for the throne again. With or without Chanyeol"

“I don't understand…” the Prince of the Pacific spoke quickly, right after gulping “why would they do that? The intention of my kingdom was never to keep yours; in fact, it was just having an ally"

“I know” Sehun replied, shaking his head “I don't know exactly the details, the dream feels fuzzy… The only thing I know for sure is that they will come here and try to separate you somehow; they are going to try to incriminate you…” he pointed out to Chanyeol “in order to form a war between the two kingdoms, but it must be prevented. A war between kingdoms of mermaids could be fatal, probably the entire wizarding world would end up involved in it... And even humans, in the worst case"

"And how do we stop it?" Baekhyun asked “what if I go back and agree to marry Chanyeol so that we both can ascend to the throne? Wouldn't that fix the things? "

"No... It's too late, your parents have a plan. Kyungsoo said it, they are just greedy; before they thought Chanyeol would be your consort after your marriage, but now they are thinking bigger, they want to reign the Pacific, and dethrone the Parks. They want the war to happen" the fairy gulped just before reaching into his bag quickly "listen to me well, do you see this?" He took out two small, brightly colored jars and placed them on the table right in front of both princes "it's very important, I want one of the two to keep them, because I have a plan"

Baekhyun was the first to raise his hand and take both flasks of unknown liquids. Now they were both listening to Sehun carefully.

"In those jars there are two things, red is poison, blue is antidote..."

"Do you want us to kill the kings?"

"God, no!" Sehun hit the table "that would only make everything worse and then a war would definitely form between both kingdoms..." the fairy crouched a little, looking them in the eyes in the most serious way possible "you need to make them believe that you are out of all this, we need them to believe that Baekhyun is no longer an option that they can handle as they prefer... "

"How are we going to do that?" Chanyeol asked nervously, while firmly grasping the other prince's hand. Why is everything happening right now? Why did this have to happen?

“The kings only want Baekhyun because it is the Byun clan's way to prevail, even though they don't mind using you as bait… If you're not there, none of their plans would work. We need to make the believe that you, Baekhyun, are out of their reach"

"With the poison?"

“I want you to take it…” Sehun spoke very seriously “it is a slow poison, but nobody has to know it; when you take it, your fever will rise and your vision will blur, then the poison will knock you out. But there are still hours until the poison takes effect and kills you, in that time, Chanyeol would have to give you the antidote"

"We are not going to do that!" Chanyeol complained quickly, getting up from his chair and pounding on the table “what if I can't give him the antidote? Is he just going to die? "

"It is the only way!" Sehun hit the table as well, looking at the boy with a frown "I wish there was another way, but while we're talking, they're getting closer and closer. Someone will try to walk through the door in, who knows, minutes? And they will take you... There are many, we can’t fight them right now, not even with magic"

They all fell silent, thinking about the plan. It was risky, too much.

“The Park clan is in the castle…” Sehun muttered “the Byuns are trying to create a dramatic scene to incriminate you… They are trying to make fun of your family in front of everyone else, they want to make the royal families believe the Parks are a greedy threat… The only way to cut ties with the monarchy is death, I thought you both knew that"

Baekhyun nodded slowly, his head was lowered. He couldn't stop staring at the glowing vial that rested against his hand.

"And then?" the young man asked "suppose I face them, take the poison... and then what?"

"Then Chanyeol will tell them the truth, they don’t know that we already know what is going to happen, so it’s an advantage for us; we need to turn the tables" Sehun muttered "Chanyeol, you need to turn the blame into the Byuns, act like their actions killed Baekhyun... And you need to play it well, because if someone doesn't believe in you, we're all screwed; you have to pick up Baekhyun as soon as possible and leave, let your family take care of the situation when everyone thinks Baekhyun is dead, leave the castle and swim as far as possible… When you are sure that you are safe and no one is following you, give him the antidote"

"So I pretend I die to make my family leave us alone, right?"

Sehun nodded, that was a good summary.

“Although we still have things pending, we can talk about it later. The important thing is that after taking the antidote you come back here as soon as possible, we will think about what will happen next once you are both safe” the fairy told them, determined "the important thing is that we will have avoided a war; what happens with the Byuns or the Parks, then, it will be their fault"

There was a terrifying silence. The plan was risky, and even if only one minor thing went wrong, it could mean the death of either of them. They did not know if they were prepared to deal with it, but it was their duty to put an end to the story with the kingdoms, they couldn’t remain as fugitives forever.

Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun while firmly holding his hand, stroking the palm slowly with his thumb. Shortly after they came over to hug each other, long and warm, encouraging each other. They had to.

"Everything will be fine..." Baekhyun murmured close to Chanyeol’s ear, slowly closing his eyes.

"Yes, everything will be fine" Chanyeol nodded, although he wasn't entirely sure "I won't let anything happen to you"

━━✧♛✧━━

They were unable to speak for much longer since, indeed, as Sehun had said, the royal guard broke into the house not long after. The fairy reminded them of the plan while the guard tried to open the door “ _don't try to fight, just disappear and they will leave you alone; it will be easier to hide than to fight_ ”; they were both going to follow the plan, it’s not like they had any other option anyways, not with the guards pounding on the door and demanding that both princes leave the house.

Everything was too confusing.

Baekhyun tried to stay calm, tried to swallow his nerves, tried to breathe to make his heart calm down. He carried a small leather bag, in which he kept the poison and the cure; and the guards didn’t let them carry anything else. The group had managed to force the door, probably breaking the lock and with it the spell that Sehun had put to keep them isolated inside the house.

No one fought, there was no way. All three had powers, but now that the kings knew their location… It was only a matter of time before they found them again, fighting the guard would be useless, it would only create more conflict and it was the last thing they needed. So they just agreed to go out with them. The guards handcuffed them and dragged them out of the house, where they found Jongin, Jongdae and Kyungsoo also handcuffed: apparently, they had taken all the mermaids they found in the building.

When Baekhyun passed near Kyungsoo, they both looked at each other. The prince breathed, connecting their eyes directly, trying to comfort him: _it’s okay, we have a plan, everything would be fine; we will get out of this_. He couldn't say those words out loud, but he hoped Kyungsoo understood and didn't worry. They would get them out of this, they would return as soon as possible.

There was a feeling of general heaviness. Baekhyun wouldn't know how to explain it, but at this point, no one had much hope. It was a difficult situation, and despite Sehun's advice, the plan was still ambiguous; even the fairy was doubtful, mentioning that some parts of his dream were blurry… would it be worth it? What were they doing? Would his parents be able to actually blame Chanyeol?

And a war… Why would they want to go to war? Or throw the first kick, knowing that the Park clan is much larger than the Byun clan. He had so many questions, and no one was there to answer them.

The only one that gave him somehow peace was Chanyeol. Like a pillar. Baekhyun knew that he was real, that he was there, that they were soulmates; he was sure of it, that he would never try to hurt him. If he took the poison, he knew that Chanyeol would come to give him the cure, whatever it cost, Baekhyun's life was in his hands. And he agreed with it.

When the guard dragged them all back to the sea, the water felt good against his new scar; his mark. Baekhyun took a deep breath, puffing out his chest, seeing the reddened skin around his new mark. The prince couldn't even help but smile a bit, because if everything turned out okay, he would finally get away from his parents and could live a quiet life with Chanyeol.

He glanced at everyone, analyzing the situation. Jongin and Kyungsoo continued to fight the guards, who were basically dragging them using their handcuffs; Jongdae, meanwhile, was only swimming while being held down by a couple more guards. The three of them were behind, while Baekhyun and Chanyeol were each escorted by a guard, who also kept them handcuffed to make sure they didn't escape.

Every now and then their gazes met, and as they moved along the ocean, Baekhyun was more and more certain that the plan would work.

It shouldn't be that complicated, right? Go to the castle, follow the situation, pretend to be dead… And then Chanyeol just had to pick him up and take him away to give him the antidote. Everything was arranged. In their mind it was probably easier than it would be in reality, but they would trust Sehun: if he thinks it's the right plan, then it must be true.

They swam through the currents for days, maybe weeks. The one-way trip from the castle to the yellow sea took Baekhyun almost two weeks, going as fast as he could, so he knew it wouldn't be a quick thing. Even though they took several fast currents, and even swam late into the night, it still felt like it had taken forever to get back to the castle.

Although perhaps it was because Baekhyun didn’t want to return.

In the middle of his trip, Chanyeol would take every moment to get close to Baekhyun and make sure he was okay. Either during a stop to rest, or a stop to eat; Chanyeol would approach Baekhyun, take his cuffed wrists between his large hands, and kiss them carefully.

All they could do was wait. Hope for the best. Wait for Sehun to be right… He would wait as long as necessary, as long as at the end of the road everyone is free.

He was constantly staring at the bag he was carrying, thinking about the poison, because the weight of knowing that what could end and save his life was in there terrified him.

Their objective? Happiness.

Baekhyun, Chanyeol. They both deserved to be happy.

Three weeks and four days was the exact time it took for the trip back to the castle, almost double the two weeks it took him to reach the coast of Seoul. It made Baekhyun realize how hard he had tried not to be seen, only to end up getting caught anyway. But it was okay, now it was his chance to clear it all up and put a good end to this whole story: put an end to the relationship with his family and start over.

They were basically dragged in a group through the hallways of the palace. The servants stopped to watch them, some murmured among themselves, others were simply speechless.

The prince was back; Baekhyun had finally been found.

The guards escorted them all to the main hall, where a small crowd made a choir around the thrones where their parents sat peacefully. They were both sitting quietly, and did not get up until the small group was in the middle of the room.

The queen came first; he swam up to them and approached Baekhyun, wrapping him tightly in her arms.

"My son! I thought we would never see you again, you've been away so long… We finally found you, dear, I'm sorry that it took us so long” she said all that out loud, making sure that everyone in the room clearly heard her loving speech while squeezing Baekhyun in an hug that felt more like a prison.

Later his father arrived, who took his hand and shook it a couple of times; "son, you don't know how worried we have been for you, welcome back home"

There was a round of applause as the prince felt himself growing smaller and smaller in the middle of the room. Who were all these people? He was trying to remember what Sehun had told him, going over the plan in his mind over and over again; everything had to work out perfectly for the plan to work.

And before Baekhyun knew it, his parents had put him aside. He hadn't even spoken, he wasn't even allowed to say anything before turning to confront Chanyeol.

"Meanwhile, you!"

The fire prince looked around in alarm. The room was full of "important" people; other kings, advisers, diplomats... His parents, the ancient Kings of the Pacific, and his sister Yoora, the current queen; everyone was looking at him, and he didn't even know what he had done wrong to end up in a situation like this.

"We know everything, we know the Park's plan!" the king practically screamed, upsetting everyone in the room; his family rose as well, taking a couple of steps forward.

"What plan are you talking about, sir?" Yoora raised her voice as the Park's main authority figure; they weren't going to blame the family for anything, their honor was at stake in that exchange of words.

“What plan am I talking about? Obviously, I mean your crazy idea of trying to destroy a nation as united as the kingdom of the Antarctic... You took our son, our only hope, hide him, you took him away from home; all so you can stay and rule our beloved kingdom”

“Excuse me, but we never had that intention; we both signed an agreement years ago on the union of our children with no other intention than the alliance between both kingdoms” Chanyeol's father spoke this time, the former king. The tension was strong in the room, floating around the deep water like a great white shark following its prey.

So, this is what Sehun had told them. How Baekhyun parents would want to throw the blame at his family.

_“Baekhyun, your parents will try to blame the Parks for your disappearance; since their clan is small, they don't have much choice to make everyone believe that the Parks wanted to attack them first. They need allies, and they will try to get them now”_

All these people were just the spectators of the well-organized theater of the Byun kings. Baekhyun, Chanyeol… Maybe they were never meant to get married, maybe this was all a plan from the beginning. The Byuns had fooled them all, and still did; it was time someone unmasked the truth once and for all.

“They want to take over our kingdom! We entrust them to Baekhyun, our only son, and they only used him to try and take over our throne"

"You are blaming us without any proof," Yoora replied, about to lose her temper. She had lowered his fists on either side of his hips, clenching them there as if at any moment she was going to throw a punch at baekhyun’s; Chanyeol hoped she could hold back long enough for him to speak up.

"No proof?" The king answered him while clapping his hands and pointing at the guards. The entire group, except Baekhyun, was pushed to the center of the room. Little by little, the other kings approached to see them.

“Kyungsoo, our supposedly loyal servant… I don't know how much you paid him, or offered him, but you got him to use his trust with our son to convince him to leave the castle; we never trusted him, and thank goodness we didn't, because it would have been fatal. Then there are our two impostors, Jongin and Jongdae, who escaped the kingdom years ago… Just a couple of ungrateful ones who don't understand that the crown does everything possible for its inhabitants so that they live comfortably; and worst of all, they both escaped to the world of humans. The whole group helped, they lured our son into that death trap that is on the mainland, they cajoled him into believing that it was better than anything the palace may have"

"And the prince?" Yoora insisted, crossing her arms; "what do we have to do with it?"

"The prince knew it all the time, we followed Chanyeol and the servant across the ocean and they met Baekhyun on the shores of the Yellow Sea, which, coincidentally, is in the North Pacific" the king put a hand to his heart as denied "we couldn't believe they were hiding our son in their own kingdom, and they really think we're going let it go?"

"This is stupid!" Chanyeol yelled, pointing directly at both kings. He wasn't scared, he looked them straight in the eye; "are you blaming my family for your ineptitude in taking care of Baekhyun?"

There were gasps of surprise in the room, followed by a low hum of murmurs that made the atmosphere vibrate. Nobody knew what to say.

“How you dare talking to us in such a way, when you have disrespected our trust?"

"Disrespect?" Chanyeol replied, raising an eyebrow “you are blaming my family, an entire kingdom, for Baekhyu’s decision to run away from the palace; you are blaming one of their most loyal servants just because he wanted to help your son, and practically two strangers who were just nice and provided him a life when everyone just turned their backs on him"

"Everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie!"

“You guys are lying to everyone! Put aside your greed, or it could be much worse"

A pair of guards got dangerously close to Chanyeol, who tried to move away from his arms. Yoora tried to get closer to help him, because a couple of guards couldn't just treat a prince like a prisoner, but one of them elbowed her and pushed her back, away from her brother.

It was then that the whole situation turned bad; very bad.

Chanyeol really began to stir, trying to free himself from the grasp of the guards that held him steady in the center of the room; meanwhile, the former king and father of the Parks rose up, hiding Yoora behind him to protect her, at least temporarily.

"Release my son right now"

“We will not release an impostor, and we will not listen to whatever you have to say. In fact, I think we've heard enough already. Just stop lying and admit your plan, it is too late, you will achieve nothing. The Antarctic belongs solely and exclusively to the Byun clan"

"That's not true" Baekhyun spoke for the first time since everyone entered the castle, he kept his head up and a tone full of decision; this was not the Baekhyun who had left the castle months ago, he was not the quiet Baekhyun who would simply nod to everything his parents said, because he had no other choice. No. Now he had a goal, he had reasons to live for, reasons to move on in search of his own future; now that he had tasted what happiness is, he wouldn’t let it go easily.

Everyone was listening to him, the kings had stopped their dispute to pay attention to the prince who had raised his voice; in the room, everyone was expectant.

"Isn't that true, son?" his mother spoke "what do you mean?"

“The Antarctic does not belong exclusively to the Byun clan” Baekhyun spoke seriously “in my time away I have been doing research on my own, learning even more about the different cultures, especially about mermaids. I know where we come from, and the Byun clan has no real rights to the Antarctic; anyone could rule as long as they have powers, because we all come from the same magical creature"

Baekhyun took a couple of steps forward, approaching his parents. He didn't want to fight, he didn't want a war, he didn't want anyone to get hurt.

“And you signed a contract with the Parks, an alliance of both kingdoms. In case the Byun clan ends or cannot continue to rule, the Parks have the right to access the crown of the kingdom"

"We know son, that's why they took you away" the king said "they want to use the alliance we have to stay with our kingdom, and that is inadmissible"

The prince looked back; he saw Chanyeol with his sister and his friends. He saw everyone who had just been called as filler to see the scene his parents would put on, he saw the Park family; and he couldn't help but feel bad for each one of those people who had been involved in her parents' plan.

"Nobody took away, I decided to go on my own" Baekhyun admitted and as soon as he said those words out loud, he felt a great weight lift from his body; “I never wanted to get married, or be king, but you are both too concerned with keeping the bloodline intact to realize it. I… I had to escape"

"But!" his mother responded, clenching her fists “but it was written in the stars, son; when you and the prince were born, you… The stars were aligned”

Baekhyun smiled a little, feeling the mark on his chest heating up.

“This doesn’t mean I don’t love prince Chanyeol, mother, I would just like to get away from the affairs of the palace. One way or another, I would like to disassociate myself from the castle"

There was a gasp in the room. A situation like this had never been seen before, a prince disengaging from his position, was that even possible?

“I won't allow it, Baekhyun” the king spoke seriously, calling for two guards to come back to hold the prince “they are just brainwashing you, but I won't allow this; as our only child, you are not allowed to disassociate yourself from the throne in life"

_In life._

So this was what Sehun was talking about, he would not be allowed to disassociate himself from the throne _in life._ Suddenly, the leather bag against his hip in which both the poison and the antidote were kept was too heavy.

"I guess we'll do it the dofficult way" Baekhyun muttered, glancing at the guards who were next to him, he had to be quick "mother, father; I gave you a chance to admit your mistakes in front of the court, in front of the other kings, in front of Prince Chanyeol; but I see that your selfishness will not allow you to do so"

He took a step back and just before the guards were on the defensive and projected two balls of light energy into his palms, brilliant, so bright that both guards had to cover their eyes from it. Afterwards, Baekhyun placed his hands firmly on the bag in which he kept the poison.

"We are all gathered here today!" Baekhyun raised his voice in front of his parents, clenching his fists; no one dared approach him this time “to really expose the Byun clan; to the king and queen"

There was a general murmur, and taking advantage of the moment of panic, Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol and slightly nodded his head. _Get ready, we don't have much time_ ; because he would have to drink the poison anytime.

“During my time abroad I met a large number of magical creatures, including a century-old fairy; the fairy warned me that this would happen, but I hoped I would not have to go to such lengths, I hoped that my selfish parents would realize the mistake they were making in blaming the Park family for crimes they did not commit, ruining their trust and of course, their pact"

"Stop!" The king stood up, trying to reach Baekhyun. Chanyeol quickly moved from his place to push the king away, preventing him from approaching the prince.

“The plan of the kings was always to gain more power; they knew that the Park family is very powerful, and also the conditions of their magic are suitable for the survival of both kingdoms regardless of the ocean in which they are. And everything was even better when the stars aligned when Prince Chanyeol and I, indicating that we could be soulmates. They saw marriage as an opportunity to take over the Pacific Ocean"

The people were quiet. The guards were not moving. The kings were listening expectantly.

“But when I escaped, I ruined their plans. If the marriage did not take place, there could be no alliance between the Parks and the Byuns, so now they needed another new plan. They decided they would blame the Park family, they want to create uncertainty and tension between the different kingdoms so that it ends in a war. They want to turn everyone against the Parks to have as many allies as possible in the face of battle; that is why we are all gathered here today, not to receive anyone, but to blame the prince. This is nothing more than a theater, they are playing with all of us"

"You lie!" the queen said, approaching her husband; Baekhyun glanced at them, his eyes narrowed. Not even after their plan was exposed did they deign to admit all that they had done.

"How do you know that, prince?" Yoora walked foward, curious.

“During my stay on the surface I met different magical beings, especially a fairy, who told me all this. He is a good friend of mine, who had a premonitory dream about this situation, he told Chanyeol and me everything just before the royal guard came for us"

“So it's true…” people murmured in the background, wondering how they were going to solve this situation. Baekhyun had defied his family, his own clan, so what he said must be true.

"If what you are saying is real, prince, then the pact between the Pacific and the Antarctic would be completely annulled" Chanyeol's father spoke while looking contemptuously at the other kings. Baekhyun nodded.

“We don't care, we still have our son” queen Byun spoke, still holding her head high “we finally found him, so he will soon be able to return to his position as prince; even if we cannot make an alliance with the Pacific, we can always find someone else to fill the position of royal consort"

"You're wrong about that, mother" Baekhyun replied.

“Of course not, now that you are here, we will not allow anyone… or anything, to take you away from the castle again; you have tasks to fulfill as a prince"

Baekhyun smiled. It was time. He glanced at Chanyeol, who returned his gaze with a slight nod; _do it_.

With his hands still in handcuffs and a bit of difficulty, he reached into his bag and pulled out the small bright red vial. He looked at his parents, at his friends, at Chanyeol. This was the moment of truth, this was the moment where everything was decided.

“I cannot walk away from the castle in life, but I will not help the selfish and liars who do not look beyond themselves, their family, their castle, or their people. If I cannot disassociate myself in life, then this is the only option I have”

Everything was in slow motion.

He opened the vial, raised his arms, and put the liquid inside his mouth, feeling its effect as soon as a couple of drops touched his tongue. It was electrifying, an adrenaline rush he had never felt before, all his muscles contracted just before he felt the world around him slowly fade to pitch black.

He remembers hearing his mother scream, and the murmurs that echoed in the room. He remembers Chanyeol's face. He remembers seeing his friends in of the corner of his eye running towards him, Jongin, Jongdae, Kyungsoo; He was sorry he was scaring them, but this was the only way.

After so long, this story is coming to an end.

━━✧♛✧━━

Unlike Baekhyun, for Chanyeol everything happened in fast motion. The speech, the fights, Baekhyun falling, the screaming, everyone moving frantically. Even though he knew this was going to happen, the shock was still there. He could feel on his mark how the prince was slowly dying; but he could help it. _This was his moment._

He left his place to push his way through the crowd of people surrounding Baekhyun's body, trying to wake him up somehow, but it was impossible; only he knew the way. He saw his sister first, who was looking at him with horror in her eyes; he just shook his head.

"We have done enough" Chanyeol said almost in a whisper when he passed Yoora "Baekhyun has done enough, you have all the information you need; don't let this lead to a war, don't let his efforts be in vain"

Yoora touched his shoulder, condolences, but he didn't need them right now. He focused on breaking free from his handcuffs first, increasing the temperature of his hands so much that they began to rip apart until he could free himself simply with his strength. And once he was out of the restraints, he placed himself next to Baekhyun.

He was so pale, lifeless, although he knew better. He pushed everyone around, even Kyungsoo or the Kim brothers, so he could comfortably carry the prince in his arms; Chanyeol snuggled him against her chest, holding him tightly, as if he was the most delicate thing in the world. Although at this moment, Baekhyun certainly was.

"Follow me" he simply said to Kyungsoo, Jongin and Jongdae, who desperately held back their tears. Amid the bustle that was now the main room, where people were either too shocked to move, or too upset to stay still, it was the best time to escape.

The small group slipped out of the room under the shouts of the kings, who ordered them to stop, but at this moment they barely had any power. Not after what had been admitted moments before.

They were able to escape the castle with almost no problem, with the corridors empty and the bustle concentrated in the throne room. Chanyeol was swimming quickly, trying to get away as fast as possible. They had a couple of hours before the poison actually killed Baekhyun, but they needed to make sure that no one was following them and that no one was listening.

"What are you doing, asshole?" Kyungsoo incriminated Chanyeol as they all tried to swim together, although his voice was shaky and weak. No one could judge him, he thought he had just lost his best friend.

"Not" Chanyeol assured him "I promise that everything will be fine, but you have to get away, please"

Nobody said anything. The four of them swam at a fixed pace for almost 2 hours, until the water was warmer and the ice on the surface was softer. This. This was the place. Suddenly, Chanyeol stopped and started swimming upward, causing the others to follow him.

"Baekhyun... He's fine, he'll be fine"

"What do you mean?"

Chanyeol didn't even deign to answer, though no one demanded an answer from him either. They all rose to the surface and the prince slowly left the young man lying on a piece of ice that had come loose from the rest due to the temperature. Without waiting for someone to say anything else, he quickly reached into Baekhyun's leather bag, from which he took out the vial with the antidote.

When he put it on Baekhyun’s lips, letting the drops slowly trickle into her mouth, there was only the thought in his mind; _please, be all right_. Chanyeol hoped it wasn't too late, he hoped it hadn't taken too long, he hoped the younger would wake up soon.

The minutes passed and Baekhyun still didn't open his eyes. The four of them simply stared at the lifeless body of the prince, their eyes full of unshed tears, not knowing what would happen. And even within the group, only Chanyeol knew that Baekhyun had a chance of surviving.

And then, a cough.

Baekhyun coughed, once, twice, just before taking in clean air almost frantically. Chanyeol quickly got up on the ice and helped him sit up so he could breathe easier, the rest just staring at them in shock.

"I'm not dead?"

"No, you're not dead," Chanyeol replied, mixing tears with a real, happy laugh. It was over, finally, it was all over.

"What?" Kyungsoo simply said, but the only response he got was a big hug from the, now, former prince "what's going on?"

"It was all a plan," Chanyeol said, laughing, just before Baekhyun turned to hug him. In the middle of the ice, they shared the warmest hug that could exist. They looked into each other's eyes, they kissed, and they hugged again. This was a time of celebration.

"How…?" Jongin muttered before it was his turn to be hugged, though shock didn't stop him from returning the hug. Then it was Jongdae, who couldn't even say anything. What the hell was going on?

"I'll tell you all about it in more details later, now we don't have much time" Baekhyun assured as he took Chanyeol's hand in his "Sehun talked to us before being captured, he told us what was going to happen, he gave us the poison and the antidote... I needed to pretend that I was dying so that they would stop looking for us, I'm sorry to have worried you, I tried to tell you while we were coming here, but there was no time"

No one spoke or answered anything, everyone needed a moment of peace to assimilate everything that had happened. It was Kyungsoo who broke the silence.

"It's okay, what matters now is that you're okay"

Baekhyun nodded, with a smile. It was over.

They waited a couple more minutes for the antidote to remove any trace of poison from Baekhyun's body and then embarked on the return journey again. A couple of weeks swimming constantly, but without the fear of being caught. Just a group of friends coming back home.

 _Home_.

Baekhyun looked at Chanyeol, who was swimming next to him. He couldn't stop looking at him. His everything, his soulmate, his companion for life. Here he was, next to him. Even after all the difficult moments, they were there peacefully side by side, as if destiny had always wanted it that way.

He took his hand and Chanyeol smiled, linking their fingers; and then they kissed. Warm, short, just a premise of what awaited them once they got back to Seoul.

 _Dreams come true_. Baekhyun thought as he felt the warmth of the other's hand against his, warming his icy palm. _He is free._

Now, it’s their time to finally be happy.


	5. Antarctic, Epilogue

After weeks of swimming almost constantly, a journey that seemed it would never end, here they were. The shores of Seoul, the beach, the port, exactly as they had left it when they left. The group arrived in the area around midnight, hoping not to meet anyone on the beach so they could get out of the sea and dry off quietly. They had no clothes to change into or some kind of coverlet, so they had to be really smart if they wanted to go unnoticed.

Luckily, a fairy has their backs right now.

"Hey, fish heads!"

Baekhyun has never been so happy to hear Sehun's voice before. The five of them came out of the water to check the beach and look for the fairy, who was found right next to Minseok. They barely had time to get close to the beach area before the crazy cat hybrid jumped into the water with them, with clothes, shoes, everything; it did not matter.

"Where the hell have you been!" Minseok gasped as he swam towards them just before hanging onto Jongdae. He smiled, hugging him tightly and keeping him more or less out of the water.

"We-" Jongdae tried to reply, just before being interrupted by the cat's mischievous lips, who silenced him in the best possible way. They shared a hard, almost desperate kiss, just before parting to take a heavy breath "what-"

"Never do that again!" Minseok held him by the cheeks, looking into his eyes very seriously “you disappear for almost a month and a half without saying anything, you don't open the bar, the house is empty; you know who the hell had to take care of the bar himself? Exactly, me! And suddenly- suddenly, Sehun calls me in the middle of the night to tell me that you are coming back from wherever-you-were" the cat kissed him again, while firmly holding his cheeks "never scare me like that again"

"I-" Jongdae looked into his eyes, feeling the blush take over his cheeks even though they were in the cold water in the middle of the night; "I promise I have the best excuse, I’m sorry"

"You better have it, Kim Jongdae," he warned quietly, his eyes narrowed. Minseok was hoping for the best excuse in the world, and a long, _long_ explanation.

While the couple was reunited, the other four decided to go ahead and approach the sand area, where Sehun was waiting for them. The fairy had been prescient, bringing towels and change clothes for everyone. Baekhyun didn't know where to start thanking him.

"I guess everything went fine" Sehun spoke first, sitting quietly on the sand, while watching the full moon rise over the horizon; meanwhile the others began to dry up from the water.

"Yes" Baekhyun sighed "or so I think, the whole kingdom thinks I'm dead... I'm out of the picture, finally, we're safe" the young man watched his mermaid characteristics slowly disappear, giving way to more human ones now that he was dry. He just had to get dressed and he would be ready to go "I don't even know how I could thank you for everything you did for us"

"There is nothing to be thankful for" Sehun smiled at him "maybe when I go to the bar, a free drink from time to time would be nice"

Baekhyun laughed. Sehun better consider that done.

"And the bar?" Jongin asked, with his pants on, just before moving on to the shirt. They had been away so long, who had… Taken over the bar? What was the state of their house at this time?

"The bar is fine, don't worry, Minseok took care of everything"

They all turned a bit to see the couple, still deep in the water. The group laughed a bit at them, but they understood; they had been traveling abroad for the last 5 weeks, now everyone needed some rest. A distraction, anything.

They had all finally come out of the water, they were dry, in their human guise, and clothed. Ready to go home after so long. The group of now 7 left the beach and walked at a slow pace to the commercial area, getting directly inside home.

Everything was exactly where they had left it, the lights off, their rooms open and airy… The group went directly to the living room, accommodating themselves where they could; sofas, armchairs, poufs, the floor, anything seemed a nice place to rest after the strong emotions they had been through lately.

"So is someone going to tell me what happened?"

"You didn't tell him anything?" They all looked at Sehun, who shrugged. Duh.

Baekhyun sighed, settling into place on the couch right next to Chanyeol, who wrapped an arm around his shoulders to snuggle him into his side.

"It's a long story... Do you remember when I told you that I escaped from the castle?" Minseok nodded "it's complicated... The royal guard was following us all, and finally they caught us, that was the day we disappeared"

“And thanks to me, everyone is here now” Sehun smiled proudly, “Am I not the coolest of all? I mean, I saved your ass when I told you what would happen, I even came up with a plan for everyone… And now we're here, which means it worked, you're welcome”

"What plan?" Minseok asked as he snuggled against Jongdae, who was slowly stroking him behind the ears; little by little a low purr began to be heard in the room, but no one mentioned anything.

"Kill Baekhyun!" Sehun said, pointing at the young man. Minseok choked.

"What the hell! You are dead? I mean, what?"

"Ignore him" Baekhyun sighed, slightly shaking his head at Sehun's strange occurrences "the plan was to pretend my death, so the kings would stop looking for us. When we got to the kingdom there was a kind of meeting, there I took a poison to pretend my death... I don't remember anything of what happened afterwards until we were away from the castle and Chanyeol gave me the antidote"

"We were so scared" Kyungsoo growled, giving him a little kick in the leg from the other side of the couch "really, you don't know how much; all of a sudden you said you were going to- oh god, and then you were on the ground, we all thought…"

Jongin patted him on the shoulder just before hugging him against himself, “don't be so harsh, we were all scared, but the plan worked, right? Everyone is fine now, and no one else is supposed to follow us now. It was for the best.” Kyungsoo nodded, still not overly convinced, but he understood. No more overthinking about what happened, right now they had to look to the future.

"So you're telling me that a group of castle guards kidnapped you all, took you to the kingdom, Baekhyun faked his death, and you all escaped, right?"

"More or less, yes" Jongdae nodded, shrugging. It had certainly been a crazy couple of weeks.

"And Sehun knew about it all the time?"

"Yup" the fairy nodded, showing his thumbs up with a smile. Minseok frowned.

“I opened the bar every night, _you_ came to the bar, and it didn't occur to you that it would be a good idea to at least tell me that you knew where they were? Or that they were coming back? God, you called me tonight saying not to open the bar because they were back and I almost had a heart attack"

"You cats are very exaggerated" Sehun glanced at him, "it would have ruined the surprise"

"I hate you so much" Minseok muttered, as he felt Jongdae laugh at his side, just before he raised his hand again to caress his ears. Well. Hating Sehun could wait, now he had more important things to do.

They talked a little more, in general. Minseok told them about the bar, what had happened in their absence, although in general they were rather professional things. The bar was open all the time, with a somewhat shorter schedule, and the hybrid had taken care of keeping everything running while they were gone. He opened it at lunchtime, after having gone to buy ingredients at the market and having prepared everything in the kitchen; around 5 o'clock he closed the bar, took inventory of the day, and got ready for the night shift. It was _almost_ quieter at that time, just preparing liquors or drinks, there was not much to do other than the job of bartender and waiter. He really struggled to keep to a regular schedule with no one to help him.

Jongdae and Jongin thanked him almost on their knees, knowing that the bar was still operating normally after being gone for a whole month or so. They offered Minseok a vacation for as long as he wanted, but he turned it down with a smile; “vacations now that you are back to work? Come on, I missed you too much to take a break"

Everyone was happy with each other, the atmosphere was calm, and they practically talked throughout the night. Baekhyun needed this, everyone needed it. The stress had been building up on them lately, they needed some kind of distraction and not keep thinking about all the events that had occurred during the last weeks.

When the sun began to rise in the morning, around 6, Sehun decided it was time to go home. He got up from the couch he was in and walked over to a half-asleep Baekhyun, tapping his shoulder lightly to get his attention.

"I'm glad you're okay" the fairy said that sincerely, looking into his eyes. Baekhyun smiled at him, taking his hand.

"Thank you very much, really... If it weren't for you, none of us would be here now"

"Anything for friends, you know" Sehun said with a smile, shaking hands; they both laughed. Then the fairy said goodbye to everyone before leaving, happy to know they would be around again soon. He left the house with a proud smile on his face, glad that everything had turned out well for them, and hoping that everything would continue this way for a long, long time.

At home each one went to their respective room, and for the first time in a long time, no one went alone. Jongdae and Minseok entered in his room kissing almost secretly, thinking that no one was seeing them, although it was obvious; meanwhile Jongin and Kyungsoo walked down the holding hands, both too tired to do anything other than go straight to bed and practically pass out. Baekhyun looked at all of them with a smile, glad that no one was alone at a time like this.

He finally turned to see Chanyeol, who was offering him a hand to help him up from the couch. The young man took it with a smile, rising from his comfortable place in the living room, not expecting that Chanyeol would carry him as soon as he was up from the couch. Baekhyun laughed, holding onto his shoulders as the other carefully led them down the hall to the room.

They ended up almost falling onto the bed inside the small room, but it was totally worth it. They both laughed as they settled down a bit, trying to steady themselves in the tight space. They finally got to settle against each other, with Baekhyun practically perched on Chanyeol's warm body. It was so nice.

"Finally, we are back" the young man said leaving a couple of kisses along his neck, while fully wrapping him between his arms.

"Finally” Chanyeol sighed as he stroked his lower back, staring at the ceiling and enjoying the kisses. It was a very intimate moment, joyful after the emotional load they had been through. They were finally together, alone, calm, enjoying their first moment together after discovering that they were soul mates 5 weeks ago.

Oh wow, they really hadn't had a moment to be together.

"Hey," Baekhyun mumbled low to a dozing Chanyeol, who just hummed in response. The young man smiled "I love you"

"I love you too" Chanyeol said as he half opened one of his eyes and raised his head a little so he could kiss him on the lips appropriately. They could never get tired of kissing.

They ended up falling asleep with their lips almost together, their noses brushing, their faces facing each other. The fatigue hit them suddenly; they were exhausted. They all deserved a break right now.

Since that autumn night, their lives changed completely.

━━✧♛✧━━

_(3 years later)_

"Oh god, be careful!"

"I am being careful!"

"Not enough! Get down from there, we can call someone to fix it, or-"

"What kind of interior designer would I be, if I can’t simply fix this roof?"

"That has nothing to do with being an interior designer!"

Chanyeol was looking at Baekhyun from the roof of his house. It wasn't even that tall, god, he could literally jump from there and probably land on his feet; there was no way he could hurt himself. But that’s what happen when you buy a house practically abandoned simply because of the memories it brings.

"Come on, it's fine, I just have to put some tiles and come down right away, it can't take me more than 10 minutes"

"Are you sure?"

"Totally, now stop worrying" Chanyeol smiled at him just before turning to go back to work with the half-ramshackle tiles.

Indeed, they had bought that house in the middle of the forest that years ago had saved them from the rain. It was totally abandoned, although not too broken. The windows were still in good condition, the humidity had not done much damage and the roof was more or less fine. Although it is true that they had to reform most of it, paint the walls, change the floor, the bathroom, the kitchen, buy all the furniture ...

But the house had great sentimental value! And it was also incredibly cheap, given that it is basically an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere.

During the last few years everyone had rebuilt their lives, and this house is Chanyeol and Baekhyun’s first step.

Jongdae and Minseok officially started dating a year and a half ago, they are now the owners of the bar, and even the second floor that they used as their home previously is now totally theirs. Jognin and Kyungsoo were the first to find a place for themselves, and now that Baekhyun and Chanyeol were gone, the couple were left living alone in the house above the bar.

Jongin and Kyungsoo had moved in almost 2 years ago, right after getting engaged; now they both owned a restaurant specialized in the typical fish of the area and lived their life quietly after getting married about a year ago. They all met almost every day, whether at the bar or the restaurant, so despite living apart they still kept in contact perfectly.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol took it all a little more… calmly. They needed to rebuild their lives from scratch, as currently they were just a couple of strangers who had just arrived in the world of humans. Baekhyun continued to work at the bar, and he is currently the one who runs the night shift, while Chanyeol studied interior design for three years. No one knows how, or why, but the boy claimed over and over again that it was a career that caught his attention.

No one complained, Chanyeol easily entered the Seoul public university, and within three years he managed to earn an interior designer degree.

During that time their relationship did not progress much, both focused on their own personal goals, saving money, and enjoying to the fullest everything that life had to offer. When Jongin and Kyungsoo moved out, they both moved into Jongin's old room, which was much bigger and nicer than Baekhyun's previous one. In general life was quiet, they weren't in a hurry at all, and Jongdae constantly reminded them that they could stay there as long as they wanted.

It was when Chanyeol finished his degree that they decided it was time to take it one step further. They looked for cheap houses for both of them, and found at a very low price the cabin that had sheltered them from the rain long ago. Maybe it wasn't the biggest place, or the most luxurious, but it was more than perfect for both.

So now the difficult thing was to move out.

They had already changed most of the house, bought furniture, renovated old appliances, all to their liking. It really was nice to move in with an interior designer, Baekhyun thought.

They only had the roof left, and officially the biggest changes would be done. At least that's what Chanyeol, who was diligently changing the roof tiles, thinks. Baekhyun just looked at him from below, his arms crossed.

"Honey, instead of standing there frowning, could you pass me a smaller hammer? It's in the toolbox"

Baekhyun sighed, but answered with a "yes" and bent down to rummage through said toolbox. There was no other hammer, what was he talking about? He searched and searched, but couldn't really find anything.

"Yeol, what hammer are you talking about?" he asked just before turning and looking up at the roof, expecting to see his boyfriend there, but saw nothing. He lowered his head and there was Chanyeol, standing next to him "I couldn't find anything"

"Come on, search well" Chanyeol smiled slightly at him, pointing to the toolbox again. Baekhyun sighed and crouched down, opening the box wide and looking at exactly what is inside. Then he saw something shiny.

What?

"Yeol?" the young man asked in a low voice, as he reached into the box to remove that. I couldn't believe it, "a ring?"

“It's for you” Chanyeol blushed a bit, crouching down beside him, taking the ring from Baekhyun's hands “I, um- the roof, it's all set now. Officially we have a house, so you know, I was thinking…"

Chanyeol took a deep breath. Baekhyun just stared at him with his mouth ajar. This is... what he think it is?

“I know the first time it didn't work out exactly as we hoped, but this time I wanted to get it right. You… You are my soulmate, my other half, and god- it's so cheesy, but every day I love you more than the day before. We have overcome many things, and I want to tell you that I have never been more sure that I made the right decision; I want to spend the rest of my life with you” Chanyeol let out the air he had saved nervously, while lightly taking Baekhyun's hand “so I wanted to ask you... will you marry me?"

Baekhyun felt his eyes fill with tears.

They had really come a long way, and here they were. As destiny had dictated, as it should be. It felt right.

"Yes"

"What?"

"Yes, yes" Baekhyun laughed as he wiped his tears away with his forearm quickly. He felt that he had never been so happy in his life as right now; "I will marry you"

They kissed, long and deep as Chanyeol looked for the ring finger on Baekhyun's left hand. It was happening, he said yes, they were getting married.

He doesn’t know how, or where, or when; but they would get married. Someday. They were finally doing it right.

They got engaged in the safety of their home, in their little bubble of happiness, just the two of them, with no one to coerce them to do so. They talked about it, arranged their wedding, told their dreams and fulfilled them.

Their story ends here, both free and happy, in the future they deserved from the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story ends here! Thank you so much again if you made it until here, it really means everything to me. Thank you for taking your time reading what I wanted to write, and I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. Have a good day!


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